


Mirror of My Heart

by donttrusttheclogs



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt/Comfort, Langst, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, can't wait till lance dumps her, cello player!keith, dancer!lance, i hate her, klangst, temporary Nyma/Lance, they choose each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2019-08-09 15:48:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 55,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16452800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donttrusttheclogs/pseuds/donttrusttheclogs
Summary: Lance is happily connected to his soulmate; Keith doesn’t have one at all. Their new work partnership is off to a rocky start but as the boys begin to work as a team, a conspiracy blooms within the agency they both work at that will open their eyes to a relationship neither thought possible.Or a Klance Soulmate Au where despite not being soulmates, Lance and Keith still find one another.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this whole concept is based off a short story I wrote five years ago which I found and just couldn't get out of my head. I have never attempted to write a big fic like this in order before so who knows how it will go but I have lots of people behind the scenes yelling at me to write. I am so excited about this.
> 
> Name is based off this quote.  
> “People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that’s what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.”– Elizabeth Gilbert

Keith didn’t look the part of an employee at the Oriande Soulmate Agency. The people there were supposed to wear light colours, smile, act like it was completely natural for clients to be throwing away a ridiculous amount of money just to fast track a meeting that would happen anyway. Keith hated it, and he refused to wear the pale blue uniform they’d assigned their ‘detectives’ to wear. Shiro had not been impressed with Allura’s first report on how he was going, he probably wouldn’t have lasted long at the pity job at all if he wasn’t so damn good at it. Just like Shiro knew he would be. Keith wished Shiro would occasionally be wrong about this sort of stuff, just once in a while. 

He slipped his biker jacket over a black shirt, ignoring the vibrations of his phone on the bed beside him. Keith knew it was just Shiro making sure he went in today. Shiro sending him motivational messages. Shiro reminding him to play nice. 

Keith owed Shiro pretty much everything he had. In all the years they had known each other, starting from that day Keith was shoved into Shiro’s office at the at-risk youth centre the man had never turned his back on him. Shiro was the one who had gotten him his job; had fought for him when they threatened to put him in juvie; and, when everything had gone wrong, had given him a roof over his head. Even after his accident, when he lost his arm, Shiro had stayed positive and he had always made sure to keep that wise optimistic owl persona on whenever he was around Keith. 

_"You are not a glitch, Keith, or a mistake. The universe just has a different plan for your time."_

Shiro had spent literal years trying to drill that message into Keith’s head. Keith appreciated the effort, he really did, but as empathetic as Shiro was, he would never truly understand what it was like to not have a soulmate. Shiro had marks across his palm, he’d met his soulmate, and Keith would never hold that against him. But Shiro didn’t know what it was like to be like this. Keith stared down at his palms, at the unblemished skin. _Error. Mistake. Glitch. Soulless._

Keith shoved his hands into his fingerless gloves; the pair Shiro had given him on his first day of the job.

_“Nobody has to know if you don’t want them to. While I don’t approve of hiding, it should be your choice of who you tell and when. These will allow you to still do your job and keep your secret.”_

Taking the stairs two at a time Keith only slowed as he moved through the last hallway, two people blocking the way as they played a game of push and shove before pulling each other back again because apparently, they couldn’t make up their mind. Keith got flashes of green from their hands. Couldn’t they at least wait until they were in their rooms before they started fucking? 

Tugging subconsciously on the ends of his gloves, Keith gave up getting their attention after the second try, shoving through them. Keith didn’t feel any remorse as his neighbour fell on his ass.

“What the fuck Kogane?” 

Keith didn’t give him the satisfaction of a response, a simple finger over the shoulder was all he needed to send the message. 

Keith frowned at the sun as it shone too brightly against his eyes, it was too warm for March, he was already sweating beneath the heavy leather jacket. 

Keith shifted in the seat of his bike as he buckled the helmet. Yet another gift from Shiro who hadn’t appreciated Keith’s ‘everyone’s gotta die somehow’ approach to bike safety. He grinned as the motor hummed beneath him, a quick mental checklist that he had everything he needed and Keith was off. Adrenaline pumped through him as he picked up speed, weaving in and around the cars, not giving a shit about the speed limit this early in the morning. This was his element, he felt safer on his bike that he did walking down the street. Here, he had all the control, people didn’t perceive him as that freak who’s ashamed of his soulmarks, they saw him as that asshole burning rubber down the street at seven in the morning. Keith didn’t know a better destresser than that.

The feeling died as soon as he pulled into work; when he had to look up at the stark white building with purple tinted windows and know that he’ll be spending the foreseeable future working with another person, someone who was marked and probably as infatuated with the concept of soulmates as everyone in this universe was. And it was all Lucy Ryan’s fault. Idiot managed to get shivved by an unsatisfied client and the company were forced to change their policy. All detectives were now required to work with a partner, ruining the single aspect of this job that Keith had enjoyed. 

Keith pulled his phone out of his back pocket as it buzzed with yet another message. Rolling his eyes as the mass of texts Shiro had sent him.

**Chat: Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)**  
6.23 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_Don’t skip work, Keith._  
6.23 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_I know you are thinking about it._  
6.24 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_You don’t know, you may even like them._  
6.27 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_Keith, don’t ignore me._  
6.32 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_Keith._  
6.40 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_I know you don’t like change, but no one else has found out about your secret so far. This person is no exception._  
6.41 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_Just do what we discussed. It’s going to be okay._  
7.01 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_Keith, I hope you aren’t answering because you are on your way to work._  
7.02 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_With your helmet on._  
7.23 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_If you don’t answer me before your shift starts I’m calling Allura._  
7.26 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_It’s not what’s happens that matters, but how you react to it. You can do this Keith._  
7.27 [You]  
_I’m here_  
7.29 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
_Good luck Keith, I know you can do it._

Of _course_ he could do it. Keith was perfectly capable of being an awkward yet pleasant person. He just didn’t want to. Keith had learnt early on that letting his guard down around people usually led to disaster, so why bother even trying? There weren’t many out there as accepting as Shiro, especially compared to the number who would react with anger, insulted at his very existence. 

Keith gave a half-hearted hello to Allura, sipping coffee in the break room, as he passed on his way to the stairs, climbing to the third floor. He scowled as he read the addition on the door. Lance McClain. A wave of nausea washed over him just looking at the name beneath his own. The only thing that stopped Keith from turning on his heel and striding out the door was the chewing out he’d get from Shiro if he did. Keith hated this feeling, he hated change, he hated meeting new people. New people were unpredictable, new people were dangerous. But Keith knew he couldn’t leave without trying, he couldn’t let Shiro down. So, swallowing the bile rising in his throat, Keith walked in and sat down in his chair, gave the empty new desk across the room a healthy glare and started setting up for the day. 

It was 7.51 as Keith finished organising himself for the day and Lance was still not there. First clients may not come in until eight but they were expected to show up at least half an hour early to see the agenda. Keith huffed, pulling his hair back into a ponytail. If this was the sort of worker his new partner was, he and Keith were not going to get along. 

~~~

Lance was late. His first day with superstar detective of the fucking year and he was actually running late. What a great first impression that was going to make. He didn’t even have a good excuse, Nyma had wanted him to cook her an omelette for breakfast and well, Lance can’t say no to her. She’s his soulmate. Surely someone who worked in the Soulmate industry could understand that.

Lance’s watch read 7.55am as he leapt out of his car, locking it over his shoulder as he sprinted through the front doors and up the stairs, taking them three at a time before bolting to the end of the corridor and putting all his weight on the door handle to charged his way in, looking at his watch with glee.

“I’m not late!” he cried, hands thrown in the hair in celebration. Looking up expecting to find the thrilled grin of his new partner he instead stood dumbstruck before a conference room filled with men and women in business suits, the CEO standing at the front of the room, arms crossed, a single eyebrow quirked up in what Lance hoped was amusement, not that he could ever tell.

“McClain, you realise you are expected to be in your office at least half an hour before your first client,” Lotor Zarkson drawled. Lance swallowed hard under Lotor’s stare. It was like he was seeing into Lance’s soul and was disappointed with what he found. The man was the personification of those pretty vampires who wooed you with eloquence and charm before they sucked out your soul. Though he supposed they were technically people too. And would probably be insulted to be compared to Lotor. Though— _Lance focus_ , Lance mentally berated himself as he realised that Lotor was still waiting for a response. He dropped his arms when he realised that they were still raised humiliatingly above his head.

“Ah yes sir, of course, sir, I was just here wondering if you needed anything” Lance rambled. _Because that made total sense, it’s not like he has at least three secretaries and a soulmate in this building. No, I’m sure it would be you that he’d ask his morning coffee from_ , Lance wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole.

“No thank you, detective. I would suggest you hurry up and head up another floor to your office.”

“Yes, sir will do. Have a swell day sir!”

_Jesus fucking Christ, pull it together Lance, and for the love of all things pure, stop talking._

Lance tipped an imaginary hat, because of course he did, and left the room. 

Lance gave himself a full second to absorb what just happened, to go over everything from the exaggerated gestures to the rambling. He went through it all in his head, praying that an earthquake would hit so that wouldn’t be the thing Lotor tells Allura about at lunch. A full second of gut-wrenching humiliation before he let it all go and sprinted back down the hallway and up the stairs. He checked the floor twice before entering the corridor groaning as a blonde woman walked into what had to be his new office. Swearing under his breath he sprinted down the hall and stopping to smooth his jacket and triple check this was actually the correct room he opened the door.

“So sorry I’m late,” he said cheerfully, putting on his best smile as he held his hand out to the client. “Lance McClain, so lovely to meet you…?”

“Ms Danes was just heading downstairs to room 204,” replied someone who could be none other than Keith Kogane, who was in the process of handing her a slip of paper and leading her past Lance’s still outstretched hand to the door. “They’ll be able to help you there.”

Keith turned as the door shut. The first thought that ran through Lance’s mind was: _How the hell is can this guy be so handsome scowling?_ It wasn’t a thought Lance was particularly proud of. _This guy is a legend and all you can think about it the symmetricality of his face? You cannot be this shallow._ Perhaps he was just surprised that the emo demon in room 309 that he’d heard so much about could be so pretty.

“Hey sorry that I’m so late man—” Lance’s words fizzled out as Keith’s gaze slowly raked down his body. “My… uh...my soulmate—” Keith’s eyes darted back up to meet his, somehow choking Lance’s excuse. Lance forced a hard swallow. “My soulmate was—”

“I don’t care.” Keith cut him off, “Romelle will send up another potential client in an hour, try to actually be here this time.”

Lance bristled, why had Keith let him stutter like that if he was just going to cut him off anyway. And what was with that stare? Who the fuck did this guy think he was anyway?

Lance straightened, taking way too much delight in the knowledge that he was at least taller than Keith, and scowled. “Hey, man, what’s your problem?” 

“My problem,” Keith replied curtly, sitting back his desk and opening the red file there, “is that my new partner, that I didn’t ask for, didn’t bother to show up before our first client got here.” 

“That was a client?” Lance exclaimed, flabbergasted, “You turned her away in less than a minute!” Lance gestured vigorously, Hunk liked to tell him it was half his personality. But he snapped them down to his side when Keith had to duck one that came too close. _Try not to hit your partner in the face on your first day together_. Lance had watched that lady walk into their office, how could Keith have determined anything so fast? 

“Can we just get to work?” Keith said taking his seat, “I assume you still have reports to file from your previous clients.”

Lance heaved a sigh as he plunked himself down in his chair and started setting up his desk. It was a lot bigger than his last one with plenty of room for all his files as well as his photos of him and Nyma. Hunk had bought him the frame, which spun between two photos on either side, for his birthday the year after he met her. The first photo was taken during the last snowfall of the season, under the newly flowering tree in their garden. Lance held Nyma in his arms, kissing her beneath the fairy lights they'd hung among the bare branches. The other was taken two weeks after their first meeting, Lance and Nyma beaming as they held their newly coloured soulmarks up to the camera. They would have taken the photo the moment the colours had appeared across their palms, but Lance had had a reaction to something he’d drank during their first meeting; a rash had covered his soulmarks for almost a week and he’d refused to take photos until it was back to normal.

Lance frowned as he noticed Keith’s scowl from across the room, his eyes trained on the photo frame. _Seriously, what was this guy’s problem?_ Lance conveyed as much with some strategic eyebrow movement, and by the way Keith’s gaze darted back to his work Lance could say it worked pretty well.

This partnership was not off to the best of starts.

~~~

Keith had a system. He would meet a client, pretend to be a pleasant person, touch their soulmarks, and if the connection had enough of a glow he would work with them. If not, he would direct them to one of his colleagues. It had worked perfectly for years, he’d never had a client who he’d let down because he was damn good at his job. His colleagues may not like him but Keith wasn’t here to make friends.

Then Lance came along and ruined everything.

_Lance_ wanted to sit down with the clients, _Lance_ wanted to study their marks, _Lance_ wanted to be helpful to those they couldn’t help. And it was frustrating because Keith knew that Lance wasn’t doing it on purpose. Lance couldn’t see the connections like he could because _Lance_ had a soulmate, something that he’d mentioned at least five times since he arrived. Not to mention that damn picture blinking up at him. What kind of photo frame has two sides anyway? Keith didn’t want to look at Lance kissing a girl for half the day, and their soulmarks for the other half. He could see the real thing whenever Lance rubbed his temple or stuck his pen behind his ear. Keith wondered if he could turn his desk around to face the other way without causing a scene. 

He hated it. He hated working with Lance; bubbly and smiling Lance whose company shirt was definitely a size too small. And what kind of person wore skinny jeans to work? Not to mention Keith was certain he was wearing eyeliner, Keith could see the blue in his eyes from across the room.

What an asshole.

Keith refused to slump in his chair. He refused to check his phone for the thousand texts he knew Shiro had sent him. He had to be alert, ready to get to each client before Lance could offer them coffee and ruin Keith’s perfect record. So far he’d managed to herd out the three potentials that had come in and Keith could see Lance’s frustration growing with each one. He was becoming more prepared, those long legs twitching as he filed paperwork, ready to pounce the moment someone knocked on their door. Every move he made was putting Keith on edge. 

Keith needed someone with a good mark, one he could solve quickly and Lance could learn to trust Keith’s judgement on these matters. In reality, Keith wished he could just tell him, it would make this simpler, rip off his gloves and explain the magical powers someone without a soul can do. Then Lance would refuse to work with him and he could go back to doing the job alone. 

Except then Lance would tell everyone else. The word would get out and suddenly he would have no clients at all because who would want someone without a soul looking for their soulmate? 

Fucking Lucy Ryan just had to get stabbed.  
Shiro would say ‘you never know, maybe he wouldn’t care’.

Because that’s likely. Keith hadn’t had the best experience with telling the truth. People don’t tend to respond well to what he is, or what he can do. Though they never complain when it’s the only reason he can find their soulmate for them in less than a day. Not that he tells them. Either way, it isn’t an experiment Keith wanted to take part in.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway and Keith is at the door before they even manage to knock and, Keith notes with a small smirk, before Lance even noticed they were there. He pulled open the door just to watch the footsteps pass as a tall man dressed entirely in purple strolled down the hall.

Keith could feel Lance’s eyes burning into his back. “Not even going to let them in the door this time, ponytail?” 

Keith threw him well-practised look Shiro had dubbed the ‘Unimpressed Teenager’, raised eyebrows knitted together his chin jutted towards his neck as though he were looking over nonexistent glasses and a scowl that made every one of his foster parents want to pull their hair out. The crossed arms weren’t necessary, but it stopped him from putting his hands on his hips like he used to. Shiro swears this was Keith’s default state in his teenage years, Keith swears this was the only normal reaction to the world’s default stupidity.

“Ponytail, seriously? Keith drawled, “You’ve sunk to grade school name-calling now?” 

“Because the tactic of practically sprinting to the door every time a client so much as enters the hallway is much more mature,” Lance replied indignantly. “Look, man, I don’t know what your deal is but I need the money our client bonus gets us, Nyma is between work. So can you please stop chasing out potentials.” 

The sincerity that leaked through Lance’s curt words was enough to give Keith pause. Detectives did get a bonus for every client they had, but _only_ if they succeeded in finding the client’s soulmate. But Lance didn’t know they wouldn’t succeed with those other clients. Keith did. 

“You should trust my judgement, I know which soulmarks are worth following,” Keith said unhelpfully, he wished there was a way to make Lance understand without actually telling him. 

Because even if Lance didn’t turn against him like almost everyone else had, even if he did accept him, Keith didn’t want the pity. He didn’t want to be looked at differently. 

“I’m taking the next client,” Lance replied firmly, crossing his arms, “whether you want to help me or not is up to you.”

Keith hoped for the sake of not having to find a new partner, that the next person would be a worthwhile client.

Keith heard footsteps again, though this time he forced himself to wait until they had knocked before getting to his feet. One sharp look from Lance kept him back though as Lance opened the door, his hand held out. “Hi, I’m Detective Lance McClain, are you ready to meet your destiny?” 

Keith blinked at Lance. He actually used the line. That awful cheesy line that they were expected to say but, as far as Keith knew, no one actually did. Lance was really something else.

Keith smiled as he shook the man’s hand. He flipped the hand so his soulmark was facing up and with a quick question for consent purposes, he ran his bare fingers across the mark. Keith breathed heavily as he touched the smooth skin, a spark running through him as the marks turned from shades of grey to a bright blue. The soulmate connection lit up, and as it did Keith saw her in flashes: dark skin, curls pulled back into a tight bun, the taste of bitter coffee coating his mouth, the white noise of a justling crowd filled his ears. The visual connection ran from the centre his palm down to the floor, blue bright against the greys but not bright enough. The connection was stretched; there was too much distance between them, states away, possibly oceans, if Keith’s instinct was accurate, which it usually was. 

“Lance I think we are swamped right now, perhaps Kelley could help this man?” Keith said carefully, he knew better than to let the rich folk know that he was rejecting them.

“Well, Keith,” Lance replied through a gritted smile, “I would be happy to help this young man find his soulmate alone if you are too busy to right now.” He led the man to his desk, gesturing for him to take a seat as he brought out paperwork.

Keith rolled his eyes. Shiro couldn’t say he didn’t try.

~~~

It was a bust. Lance didn’t know how Keith had known but there was nothing Lance could do to help this man. His marks showed, after a closer examination, a type of tree that didn’t grow in the state, Lance had to hand him over to the main company so they could find his soulmate. He couldn’t go back to the office though, not yet, so Lance had spent the last three hours sitting the park drinking weak coffee. 

He thought he’d had it; he thought he could show Kogane that he knew what he was doing. He did know what he was doing! It just didn’t work out this time. Lance did not look forward to telling Nyma about his day. 

He had to go back eventually, to finish filing the transfer papers if nothing else. He just didn’t want to right now, okay? He didn’t want to face Keith after the man had explicitly told him not to take this client. Like he’d known. 

But he couldn’t have known, he’d looked at the soulmarks for barely a moment. There was no way he could have figured anything out that quickly. It was a lucky guess. Or he only took clients that he could figure out on the spot. That was all it was. 

After all, what else it could be?

Lance moved slowly through the building, dragging his feet up each stair to the slow anthem of his own funeral march. His pride was dead; surrendered to failure. He would not, could not, live this down. Each step down the hallway was the beat of the bass drum, the steady slump of his fading heartbeat, dying of humiliation. He opened the door and sighed dramatically, his eyes falling shut as his bag dropped the ground. He peeked a little when there was no response.

“Oh for fuck's sake,” Lance cried into the empty conference room, snatching up his bag to head up to the next floor for the second time that day.

He dragged his feet all the way to the door, hesitating as he hears Allura’s voice drifting through the thin walls.

“Absolutely not, Keith.”

“Come on Allura, you know I’m not careless like Lucy! I work better without some idiot slowing me—” 

Lance pushed the door open hard and fast, taking grim satisfaction at watching Keith jump at the bang it makes against the wall. Keith stared openly at him, eyes owlish and jaw dropped as Lance strode over to his desk, shoved the applications for client transfer into his front drawer and stormed out again, only briefly seeing the unimpressed looks Allura was giving them both. 

Pulling his phone out of his pocket it took him several times to enter his password. 

**Chat: My Heart and Soul <3**  
16.42 [you]  
_bad day going to the bar_  
16.42 [you]  
_wanna join?_

Lance pulled up his other main text chain.

**Group: musketeers of doom: CUTE BUT EVIL, Hunkalicious**  
16.43 [you]  
_AVOCODO PRONTO_  
16.45 [CUTE BUT EVIL]  
_am I supposed to know what that means?_  
16.46 [Hunkalicious]  
_it means meet at the bar_  
16.46 [you]  
_IT MEANS MEET AT THE BAR_  
16.47 [you]  
_ayyyyyyyy_  
16.47 [Hunkalicious]  
_ayyyyyyy_  
16.49 [CUTE BUT EVIL]  
_how have i lived with you so long and still dont know all your codewords_  
16.50 [Hunkalicious]  
_this one is for bad days at work and needs friendly drinks but not a ride home after_  
16.50 [you]  
_dont worry little pigeon youll catch up one day_  
16.51 [CUTE BUT EVIL]  
_how can you remember all of these but still forget your toothbrush everytime we do movie night?_  
16.53 [you]  
_skill_  
16.54 [Hunkalicious]  
_We’ll be there_

Lance switched chats as he climbed into his car.

**Chat: My Heart and Soul <3**  
16.50 [My Heart and Soul]  
_Sorry love, Rolo is having troubles with his SM_  
16.50 [My Heart and Soul]  
_I promised I would help him_  
16.54 [you]  
_All good, love you xx_  
16.57 [My Heart and Soul]  
_Love you too_

Lance hadn’t really expected her to be able to come, she wasn’t too big on hanging out with his friends, which was fine because he didn’t particularly like Rolo either. Rolo may spend a lot more time at their house but they’ve been friends since they were kids, so it’s not like Lance could stand in the way of that. She was always there when he truly needed her, this was just a bad day.

A bad day centred around a single person. 

Lance was lucky he had friends who always knew how to make him feel better.

**Group: musketeers of doom: CUTE BUT EVIL, Hunkalicious**  
16.59 [CUTE BUT EVIL]  
_im putting pants on for this lance_  
16.59 [CUTE BUT EVIL]  
_i hope your happy_  
17.01 [Hunkalicious]  
_Pidge the reason we’re going is cause hes not happy_  
17.01 [Hunkalicious]  
_Literally the whole reason_  
17.03 [CUTE BUT EVIL]  
_idgaf_  
17.03 [CUTE BUT EVIL]  
_pants hunk_  
17.04 [CUTE BUT EVIL]  
_PANTS_  
17.18 [you]  
_you habe blessed me pigron blessed me with theh almighty pabts_  
17.20 [Hunkalicious]  
_Lance, that is your one handed typing_  
17.21 [CUTE BUT EVIL]  
_I AM PIGRON_  
17.21 [Hunkalicious]  
_istg lance if you are texting and driving i wont give you any of the cookies i brought from work_  
17.21 [CUTE BUT EVIL]  
_FEAR ME AND THE MIGHT OF MY PABTS_  
17.21 [you]  
_NO HUNK I SWEAR I WAS GETTING OUT OF THE CAR PLEASE DONT TAKE THE COOKIES_

Lance walked into the Lion’s Bar, breathing in the sweet scent of Hunk’s cooking stark against the strong smell of alcohol. It wasn’t your average bar, though it’s patron Coran was hardly your average man. The floor was fairly average, booths scattered through the room, a bar at the front with enough stools for lost souls seeking advice, swirls of silvery paint coated the black hardwood floors and dim floor lights were scattered along the aisles. Up the walls and across the room was the universe. Amongst deep blue were intricate galaxies designed with glow paint of every colour and size, comets and planets scatter amongst them. The centre of the room was Lance’s favourite though, and whenever possible they would snag the booth beneath it to just stare at it as the alcohol bled into their minds. Painted in a circle were five mechanical lions, each a different colour, each roaring an element from their mouths into the centre of the room. Water for blue, fire for red, wind for black, vines for green and earth for yellow. It was a stunning piece of art that made absolutely no sense at all and Lance loved it. 

Lance waved to Coran behind the bar, a friend since Hunk had started working in the kitchens there, and headed over to their booth where Hunk was already seated. As Hunk caught his eye Lance jutted out his bottom lip and widened his eyes into a puppy dog expression that could be named nothing short a masterpiece. It came from years of being the youngest sibling. Lance knew that if he held it long enough, even the strongest of men would break. 

Hunk just rolled his eyes and shook the clear plastic container, filled with red cookies. The sound of Hunk’s rattling cookies is and always will be, an instant mood raiser.

He grabbed one as he scooted into the booth. “Pidge?”

“Car’s still in the shop, and I was still working so they’re walking.”

“Oh shit, is Coran gonna be alright with you taking a break?” Lance asked worried, he didn’t want Hunk in trouble for the sake of a rant; Keith couldn’t ruin both of their days. The simple thought of Keith turned Lance’s worried look into a scowl. Fucking Keith. Ugh. 

Lance fell forward, sucking on his cookie and staring intently at the cocktail menu hoping it would spontaneously catch fire and give him an excuse not to go into work tomorrow.

Hunk very slowly moved the menu away, he’d sunk to Lance’s level, forcing eye contact as they leaned on the table together. “Lance?” 

“Ugh,” Lance groaned.

“Laaaaance,” Hunk coaxed, waving another cookie in front of his eyes. Lance reached for it with the hand that didn’t already hold a cookie but Hunk moved it out of his reach, sitting up. Lance’s eyebrows knitted together as he pouted at his best friend. 

“Huuuuunk,” Lance whined, sitting up a bit so he could reach higher but Hunk had the advantage of a straightened spine.

“Not till you tell me why we are here.”

Lance’s whine was cut off by Pidge dropping their bag on the table, making Lance jump out of his skin. “I am going to be broke by the time my car is fixed,” they huffed before heading to the bar to buy first round. Lance looked up at them with narrowed eyes when they came back empty handed.

Pidge just shrugged. “Coran said he’d give them to us for free if I let him pick the drinks.”

“You volunteered us to be Coran’s taste testers?” Hunk deadpanned.

“You make it sound like he’s going to poison us,” PIdge shrugged again as she shoved Lance along the booth with bony elbows. “I volunteered us for free alcohol, if you don’t want it then I’ll drink it for you.”

“You don’t want to try my new drink Hunk?” Coran had snuck up on them. Lance could see the sparkle in his eye as Hunk flustered for an answer. Hunk visibly slumped in his seat and waved the drinks on.

“So this,” Coran announced, bringing the drink down in front of Pidge, “I call Nunvill.” Pidge inspected the neon blue drink with the attitude of someone who wanted to know how Coran had gotten the drink to actually glow.

“This!” Coran exclaimed, putting a deep purple drink in front of Hunk, “is Nuuskob!” 

Hunk looked at it with a small frown, “What’s in it?” 

Coran just smiled brightly at the chef, “Wouldn’t you like to know, though I’d be careful not to spill it, it will stain!” 

Hunk’s eyes widened at Coran as he sniffed the drink cautiously.

Coran looked to Lance, giving him a softer smile. “Hunk told me it was an avocodo sort of day so I made you a Sloven-de-hoe, it’ll take the edge right off.”

Lance blinked up at Coran, then at the clear drink, shrugged and tossed it back, gulping down the contents in one go. Lance ignored the look his friends shared and passed the glass back to Coran. The drink tasted horrible, but the alcohol was strong so Lance didn’t particularly care.

“Alright buddy, let’s hear it, what’s going on?”

Lance huffed, grinding his teeth. “My new partner is…” Lance ran his fingers through his hair, seeing if he could pull the words out of the tuffs, “he’s just…” his hands slammed down on the table. “He’s the fucking worst.”

 

The floodgates opened. Lance wasn’t sure how long he ranted about Keith, or the client, or what he’d overheard. He rambled on about Keith’s whole bad vibe about soulmates and how ridiculous it was to wear a jacket and gloves when it was so warm. How Keith didn’t bother to wear the uniform and how he turned away so many clients for no particular reason except perhaps to spite Lance? 

Keith just did something to him, he raised the sort of storm in Lance that causes tsunamis, waves of emotions flooding his head, clouding his judgement. Lance didn’t know why Keith had this effect on him, why he was getting so worked up. He’d been called an idiot before, he been called worse than that more times than he could count. What was it about Keith that got him so riled up that it felt like lightning was ripping him in two.

When he finally fell silent, Lance listened to his friends' advice. He understood when they told him he was being rash, that he should give the guy another chance because ‘surely he can’t be as bad as you make him sound’. They were being rational, and sometimes Lance really needed it, but right now he just wanted them to agree with him. He wanted to be reassured that just because his feelings may be a little irrational, doesn’t make them invalid or undeserving of attention. Lance loved his friends, but this is where Nyma strived. 

Lance rubbed his soulmark as he thought about her, felt the smooth rise of the skin across his palm. Brushed his fingers over the sandy yellow that bled through the intricate designs, his connection to Nyma. The colour reminded him of the beach in Cuba by his childhood home, of the sunflowers that his abuelita would insist on attempting to grow no matter the season. He traced the inner ring of his soulmarks: the initials N.S. that bound him to Nyma, the numbers that read the moment she came into the world. He ran along the edge to the outer ring: to the stack of books beneath his ring finger, for Nyma’s love of reading; to the flashes of light, created with negative space, from the club where they met. Lance used to think they were the stars. 

Lance reached for his phone, needing to make sure that he had enough money on his account to pay for the drinks when he saw the text. 

**Chat: My Heart and Soul <3**  
19.02 [My Heart and Soul]  
_Hey babe, Rolo is gone, come home and relax with me_

Lance cringed at the time stamp; it was 19.23 now. Nyma hated it when he didn’t see her messages right away. He shot her a quick text back and rose from his seat.

“I’m gonna head home,” he said, making sure his frustration didn’t seep into his tone. Lance already knew what his friends thought about Nyma, he didn’t need to give them more reason to doubt. “Thanks for putting on pants to listen to me bitch.”

“I mean, I was already wearing pants but you know we’re always here for you bro,” Hunk replied, holding out the half-empty cookie container.

“Bro,” Lance said grabbing the cookies with his one hand, clutching his heart with the other, grinning as Hunk returned the gesture. Pidge rolled their eyes. 

Lance paid for all three of their drinks, it was the least he could do. Looking over his shoulder he called out, “Love you guys, see you on Wednesday!” He left the bar listening to them call back and for the first time since he left his house that morning, Lance felt good. Hanging with Hunk and Pidge, plus the thought of going home and gossiping with Nyma over a bowl of cheerios had lifted a weight off his chest. The storm has quietened, the damage accessed, now he could go home and, at least for the night, return to a world where his mind wasn’t focussed on Keith.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So,” Shiro may be incredible at apologies, his segues though could use some subtly, “how’s it going with Lance?”
> 
> Keith groaned, downing the rest of his drink. Why did he agree to this again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... chapter two, exactly one week later! To be honest I am amazed at myself. Enjoy!

Keith was ignoring Shiro’s calls. It was petty and childish, but he didn’t care. Keith had already agreed to go to the bar with him that night in a misguided attempt to stop the bombardment of texts and calls asking about his new partner. Because Keith didn’t want to talk about Lance; if he were being honest he was embarrassed by the whole situation. He hadn’t meant for Lance to walk in on him saying that stuff, and Keith knew if he told Shiro about it he’d be marched in by the ear to apologise; Shiro didn’t give a shit that Keith was a moderately functioning adult, he’d treat him like a stubborn child who refused to do it himself. Probably because that tended to be Keith’s first response to these situations. 

So Keith had until that night to find some sort of truce with Lance, or suffer the consequences of sitting through a trademarked ‘Disappointed Shiro Lecture’ at the bar, and Keith had experienced enough of them to know they could last for _hours_. He didn’t want that, but he also didn’t know _how_ to play nice with Lance. He wasn’t good at this sort of thing, okay! The two of them had already spent the entirety of Tuesday morning sitting in stifling, uncomfortable silence that had only ended when Lance walked out at 11.30am, not returning until right before their shift ended. Keith hated how that silence had made him feel. He’d thought he’d enjoy the silence, to have back the luxury of no small talk while he worked. Instead, he’d spent the entire morning with a ball of anxiety growing in the pit of his stomach, it lessened slightly when Lance left, a short relief before it started to grow exponentially when Lance didn’t return. It was a bad day, to put it lightly, and Keith had find a to make it right, or at least a way to make it easier.

Keith huffed to himself as he sat on his bike in the company parking lot, glaring up at the room he knew was their office. Lance would already be up there; Keith had seen him walking in as he’d parked. Keith didn’t want to deal with the consequences of his actions. He didn’t want to deal with the confrontation, the awkwardness of it all. He missed the days where he could get away with throwing a tantrum and be sent to his room, so he wouldn’t have to ‘talk it out’. Shiro just had to go and make him a respectable adult, who could somewhat function in society.

Keith had a client coming in at 8.30. She was the second client he’d picked up the day before but he’d asked her to come in today as he didn’t want to work overtime, and he’d already brought together one couple while Lance was off doing whatever he was doing. Keith had figured it out, he’d seen those green pages that Lance had shoved into his drawers—transfer papers—he was transferring the client to the headquarters in New York for interstate search. Meaning Keith could ask Lance to help him with his new client; Keith could hold back with his powers in the way Shiro and he had planned and then he and Lance could bond. Bonding was good. Bonding made for not awkward situations for the rest of their careers. 

He sighed again, glancing at his watch, if Keith didn’t leave now he would be late for his shift; a completely unacceptable scenario after the fuss he had put up on Monday about Lance being late. He walked in the building to find Allura waiting, leaning against the front desk, her arms crossed. She smiled as he walked in, a sickly sweet smile that Keith just knew she’d been standing there waiting to give to him.

“Nice to see you made it into work today Keith!” she said brightly, too brightly, “I’m heading up the stairs so why don’t I walk you to your office?” 

Lotor may be the CEO of the company but Allura was the one keeping it running. She was head of the detectives and she worked constantly behind the scenes and in front of the camera making sure that everyone knew that Oriande Soulmate Agency was the leading agency in the world. She used every tool to her advantage, Keith was about as straight as a spiral but even he could see why men and women alike were so easily charmed by her looks and grace; soulmates may not affect a person’s sexual orientation but Keith had certainly seen Allura make even the most steadfast people reconsider. And when it came down to it, Keith had seen Allura throw men twice her size out on their asses, her military training making her even more badass than she already was. Frankly, it was terrifying, Keith wondered in moments like these, when that fire burned behind her wide smile, how quickly the world would fall if she turned against it.

“Keith,” Allura waited until they were alone, halfway up the first level of stairs, to speak. It wasn’t very comforting. “I haven’t told Shiro about what happened on Monday, yet. But I expect you and Lance to be the epitome of a good team by the end of the week or the three of us will have to have a serious conversation about your commitment to this company. We are a team here and so you will learn to work with Lance.” 

Keith gulped, Allura had already given him a thorough verbal lashing after Lance had left the day before, and he’d begged her not to tell Shiro, but this passive-aggressive side was a lot more of an incentive than her yelling. Yelling Keith was equipped for, he could curl up in himself and wait for it to stop, but this quiet soft aggression, that slowly ate through his defenses until he was left raw, was another story entirely. 

“I will Allura,” Keith hated how weak his voice sounded. 

“I know,” she smiled brightly at him again as they reached his corridor, as though they’d had a charming conversation about her date with Lotor rather than threatening his career. “Have a great day Keith!” 

Keith bit his lip as he walked into the office. Lance was sitting at his desk, filling out some paperwork. Lance barely bothered looking up, as Keith stood awkwardly by the door.

“Hi,” Keith gave him a small jerking wave, so awkward that Keith snapped it back down as soon as he had a sense of control again.

“Hello,” Lance replied shortly, still not looking up.

“Um..” Keith’s throat seemed to close up, his mind shutting down, as he stared at Lance. 

The other boy sighed and stopped writing, “What?” he said looking up, he frowned at Keith who was still openly staring. Lance raised his eyebrows shaking his head in silent question.

_Keith speak! Real words, let’s go! Outloud!_

“I uh…” _oh yes great start, real eloquent_ “I mean…” Keith wished Lance would cut in, say something _anything_ to end Keith’s suffering. So naturally Lance just sat there, chin resting on one hand, eyebrows raised as he tapped his pen against the table with his other hand. 

“I just…”

Lance slammed the pen on the table causing Keith to step back. “You what Keith? Because I have a case I’d like to get back to, preferably before my coffee gets cold.”

Keith frowned. “What case?”

Lance smiled through pursed lips, shaking his head as his gaze burnt holes through his desk. “What case,” he muttered under his breath, “that’s all you have to say?” He huffed a laugh, looking back up at Keith, “The case I picked up on Monday, the one you refused to take. Ring any bells?” 

Keith’s frown deepened. That case was a bust. Keith knew that case was a bust and he had been certain that Lance knew it too. Why else would he have had that form? But then why would he lie? Unless...

“Any leads?” Keith asked forcing his voice to sound casual, crossing his arms as he stared down at Lance. 

“Yeah, plenty; I made some great headway yesterday,” Lance’s answer was clipped, the words spat out like each were an effort, his eyes downcast and nostrils flared as he blinked rapidly. Lance was not a good liar. 

“Oh yeah?” Keith said, the bite in his voice showing, “Want any help, perhaps another set of eyes could help catch some new details?” 

Keith watched Lance’s eyes widen slightly, and then narrow, squinting up at him like he’d suggested Lance run away to the circus with him. “No thanks, I’ve got this.”

Keith rolled his eyes, if Lance wanted to waste his time, then who the fuck was Keith to stand in his way. “Fine, I have my own client coming in an hour anyway.” 

“Oh? Finally found someone worthy of your precious skills. Only took you all week.”

 

“Actually,” Keith replied coolly, cocking his head, “She’s my third client this week. Can’t wait to see that bonus cheque.” 

Keith did not get as much satisfaction as he thought he would from the way Lance’s eyes fluttered shut, the long breath he took before standing from his desk and leaving the room, his shoulder bumping against Keith’s, harder than what could be considered an accident, as he passed. The slam of the door left Keith feeling empty, as though the air had been sucked out of his lungs. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there staring at the spot where Lance had been sitting, fighting the clench in his gut that wanted him to curl up into a ball and scream in frustration.

 _Nice work at making nice Keith,_ Keith’s mind helpfully added, _Shiro would be so fucking proud._

~~~

Keith glared at the outside of the bar, hoping that if he stared hard enough he could mentally convince the alien invasion to come early to take over the world so he wouldn’t have to tell Shiro everything that had happened. 

He’d almost cancelled, called in sick, crashed his bike, made up a work emergency. Anyone else would have understood and accepted the excuse at face value. But not Shiro. Shiro was persistent; he also seemed to know exactly when Keith was lying to him. It made Shiro a great counsellor and an amazing brother; unfortunately it also made him a really annoying curveball to Keith’s tendency to lie his way out of awkward social situations. 

Keith sighed and walked into the white and grey building. Shiro had suggested it, Coran’s Castle, apparently, this was where he and Allura had come to talk about his prospective job opportunities and the drinks had been quote unquote ‘out of this world’. He’d been bugging about bring Keith for years and he’d finally caved. A man with a bright orange moustache stood behind the bar, he pulled out a glass as Keith at the bar. “Old fashioned?” he asked, already taking out the whiskey. Keith frowned alarmingly at him. 

“How did you know?” he asked, Keith glanced around the room for Shiro, surely Shiro was here. How else would the bartender know?

The man just smiled and tapped his nose. He handed Keith the drink and with narrowed eyes and a pout Keith sipped. He couldn’t hold back the small moan back as he tasted it. 

_Fuck that’s good._

Keith looked up at the man who was still staring at him. Keith placed his drink on the bar, the glass clinking against the dark stone. He looked warily at the bartender.

“I'm not telling you about my day if that’s what you are waiting for,” Keith said. The bartender just smiled back at him, wiping the glass.

It should be creepy. Keith should feel creeped out by this random stranger knowing his drink order before attempting to stare into his soul. But somehow, something about him calmed Keith. It wasn't a feeling he was used to, or one that he particularly wanted to experience again. At least the drink was good. 

At that moment the doors of the bar swung open and Shiro strolled into the bar. 

“Keith!” he called, waving to him. Keith hopped up from his stool, the smile that curved across his lips came easy as Shiro pulled him into a hug, careful not to brush his marked palm against Keith’s bare shoulders; his prosthetic making up for it by nearly crushing him. Shiro pulled back, holding Keith back with his prosthetic as his other hand checked off things in the air as he took Keith in. Shiro did this every time he saw him, made sure that Keith was okay. Once he was sure Keith was still in one peace he turned to the bar and gratefully took the drink from the bartender.

“Thanks Coran,” he gave Coran a wide grin.

“Let me know if you need anything else.” Coran said, winking, his accent was not what Keith had expected, or one that Keith could confidently place, British? New Zealand? Australian? Something like that. Not that it mattered. Keith scrunched up his face at Shiro as Coran walked to the back. Shiro obviously knew Coran.

“Did you tell him my drink order?” he asked, raising his glass to clink against Shiro’s. 

“No, that’s just Coran, man knows how to read a person like no one i’ve ever seen.” Shiro chuckled, unaware of the effects his reply had on Keith.

Keith hated the way simple words like that could make the room close in around him; the casual chatter of five or six people in the bar grew louder, discernable against the pounding of his blood. His fists closed tight in his gloves as he fought the urge to sit on his hands, _no one can see no one can see_. He tried to control his breathing, to stop the sudden brutal awareness of every muscle in his body. A cold hand gripped his shoulder and Keith was ripped back into the world.

“Keith,” Shiro’s voice was low and steady, a safety raft in an endless sea. “He doesn’t know, not unless you’ve told him.” 

Keith flushed slightly, refusing to look up from his hands. He’d been on the brink of a panic attack in the middle of the bar over absolutely nothing. A joking comment about knowing people was apparently all it took for him to have a complete breakdown. How fucking pathetic was he.

“Keith,” Shiro said again, as calm as ever with years of dealing with Keith’s issues under the belt. God Shiro deserved better than this, Keith didn’t know why he bothered hanging around a useless soulless mistake like—“I’m sorry.” Keith’s gaze snapped up to meet Shiro’s, frowning at the old man.

“Why are you sorry?” What reason did Shiro have to be sorry? Keith was the mess, not him.

“I’m sorry because I should have phrased that better, I should have realised how you would take it.”

 

Keith didn’t like it—Shiro didn’t need to apologise to him for that!—but he also knew better than to try and argue, Shiro had taught him sincerity and Keith knew the man took apologies very seriously. So he nodded and gave Shiro a small smile.

“Thank you.” 

“So,” Shiro may be incredible at apologies, his segues though could use some subtly, “how’s it going with Lance?”

Keith groaned, downing the rest of his drink. Why did he agree to this again? 

“He’s a pain!” Keith whined, “He is unpredictable and petty and _so_ overdramatic.” Keith ran a hand through his hair, pushing the fringe out of his eyes.

“I mean, he uses _the line_ Shiro! That cheesy awful line they tell us to use on new clients! And he wear skinny jeans to work and is so stubborn and prideful he’d rather lie about a bad case than work with me! And his soulmate, he just shoves her in my face constantly!”

“Ah, I understand,” Shiro said. He didn’t. Keith knew Shiro didn’t understand because he knew what Shiro was thinking. He thought that it was about Lance’s soulmate, about how he had one and Keith didn’t. But it wasn’t. Shiro didn’t understand because Keith didn’t understand.

Lance lit something in him, a wildfire that burned four metres high, leaping rivers and ravines, leaving only steam and ash in its wake. It had been three days. _Three days_ and Lance had already burnt through his nerves. And Keith had tried to play nice—what annoyed him more than anything—Keith had _tried_ to make things right, had tried to get them to work together. 

Keith told Shiro as much.

Shiro narrowed his eyes, “How did you try and work with him?”

Keith suddenly found the piece of ice floating around in his drink very interesting. 

“Keith?”

“Fine, I tried to tell him but then he started lying about the case and—” Keith cut off as the doors opened, carrying the voice of the one person Keith really did not want to see right now. Lance walked in, arms spread wide as he opened the double doors to the bar at once because god forbid he do anything without dramatics. He wore a green cargo jacket, that was several sizes too big, over his dark jeans and bright blue sunglasses were pushed to the top of his head. He was turned towards the tall man walking in with him, smiling softer than anything Keith had seen. It was reserved, not that big cheesy grin he gave to customers that made Keith cringe. Keith supposed it was a real smile. He hated that his mind immediately noted that it suited Lance.

Keith covered his face with his hands. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he groaned. Through the gaps in his fingers Keith saw Shiro turn. 

“Is that him?” Shiro asked, a note of amusement in his voice.

“Yeah.” Keith clipped, his hand dropping. “That’s him.”

As though he could sense being talked about, Lance’s eyes locked onto Keith’s, that easy smile vanishing, his lips curling as he scowled at Keith. Keith briefly returned the gesture, crossing his arms, before directing his gaze back to Shiro, who looked thoroughly unimpressed. 

“Keith—”

“I know.” He didn’t want to hear it.

“If you know then go and talk to him. Fix the problem before it festers any further.”

“I _know._ ”

Keith knew perfectly well that Shiro was right, didn’t mean he wanted to do anything about it, even with Allura’s threats. He also knew that if those threats reached Shiro’s ears, the man would kill him, adoptive brother or not. 

He looked at Lance, sitting in the centre booth with his friend. Lance was laughing about something, the sound carrying across the room. For the second time that night Lance’s eyes met Keith’s, and again that easy smile disappeared. At this rate Lance was going to think Keith was purposely staring at him, which was obviously not true.

“Then go and apologise,” Shiro said, Keith looked back at him, eyebrows raised and slack jawed.

“What? Right now?” 

“Yes Keith, right now.”

“But—but he's with his friends and I don't want to make a scene and Shiro please don’t make me.” Keith begged. He sounded pathetic, but sometimes puppy dog eyes were the only way to get Shiro to back down.

Shiro raised one eyebrow, a skill he claimed he got due to imbalance when he lost his arm, a small smirk on his face as he took in Keith’s expression. Keith laid it on thick, wide eyes, lip jutted out in a pout, eyebrows turned up at the centre, he even uncrossed his arms to wrap them around his stomach. He looked pitiful and he knew it. 

_Let’s just hope Lance doesn’t see you._

That was not a pleasant thought. Keith wanted to look to that booth, to make sure those ridiculously bright eyes weren’t trained on him, but he didn’t dare look away from Shiro. 

When Shiro rolled his eyes, Keith knew he’d won, but when Keith begun sighing in relief Shiro said.

“Well maybe I should go over and talk to him.” 

Keith choked on air. “NO!” he yelled. _Well if Lance wasn’t looking before he’s certainly looking now along with the whole fucking bar._

“Shiro,” Keith hissed through gritted teeth, “Don’t make me hide your arm again.”

The threat went straight over Shiro’s head, he was laughing so hard. He got to his feet and Keith grabbed the front of his shirt. “Shiro I swear to god I will eat the last of Adam’s poptarts and blame it on you.” 

Shiro rolled his eyes, “He wouldn’t believe you over his _soulmate_ ” Shiro frowned, cocking his head in thought, “Okay maybe he would but I’m just going to the bathroom I swear.” 

Keith squinted up at him. If Shiro really wanted to he could easily get out of Keith’s hold but he wasn’t even trying.

“Keith I promise I won’t go over there, but I really gotta piss.” 

Keith huffed and let Shiro go. His gaze wandered back to Lance, this time catching the other boy staring at _him._ Keith had the sudden childish urge to poke his tongue out. He was saved from that humiliating scenario by a strangled screech at the door accompanied by the sound of Lance and his friend laughing. 

The person grumbled all the way to the bar, slumping three seats down from Keith. They kept mumbling something, through a mop of sandy hair, about a broken car and a broke account. They straightened as Coran came out. 

“You need help again?” he asked kindly but the person just shook their head. 

“No, I’m okay this time, finally got my paycheck, thanks Coran,” they replied, Keith continued to stare. That voice it was so familiar. The person sighed, and turned to him. Keith’s mouth dropped open.

“Pidge?” he said at the same moment that they cried, “Keith!”

They immediately hopped up and came over, to his chair, briefly wrapping their arms around him. “Keith oh my god, how are you?”

It had been _years_ since Keith had seen Pidge, the last he’d heard they’d moved to Texas to work on some high security tech thing. Pidge was the only person after Shiro Keith had ever considered a trustworthy friend. It showed how much they deserved it by the way they kept their soulmarks from his skin.

“Uh good? What are you doing here?” Keith asked, still in shock. 

“I live here! Alec and I came back last year, I got a job at the university running their tech research labs and we couldn’t pass it up,” Pidge grinned at him, and Keith felt pride wash through him. It had been Pidge’s dream to work in research, to design the next big gadget. Now they were living it.

 

“Oh that’s amazing, congratulations!” 

“Yeah, thanks! Are you here alone?” Pidge asked, looking around Keith. 

“No Shiro’s here too,” Keith replied, pointing at his brother’s glass.

“Oh awesome! You guys should come join me and my friends, first group round’s on me,” Pidge pointed out to the centre booth, right where Lance was glaring daggers at them. Pidge frowned, “what’s his problem?”

“You’re friends with Lance?” Keith couldn’t keep the indigency out of his voice.

“How do you know—” Pidge’s face went slack, and then slowly a mischievous smile creeped up their face. “Oh my god… You’re Lance’s Keith!” they cried, “Holy shit what are the fucking chances of that.” 

Keith made a face at being referred to as Lance’s. “I can’t believe you are friends with _Lance._ I thought you had taste Pidge.” 

“Well I had to find some new friends after my only one abandoned me,” Pidge shot back, crossing their arms with a sharp glare.

Keith rubbed his arm, staring at Pidge’s shoulder rather than meeting their eye. It was a fair hit. Keith had abandoned them, after years of friendship, after they’d been so _good_ about his secret, he’d still run the moment they found their soulmate. He’d freaked, Pidge had always been so anti-soulmate, anti-romance, anti-destiny. Then one day they’d accidently dropped a piece of plastic on the ground while walking and Alec had marched up to give them an earful about environmental impact and Keith had been forced to watch their soulmarks bloom into shades of green as they made eye contact for the first time. Platonic soulmates were rare but they existed, and they were no less real than any other kind soulmate.

Keith hadn’t taken it well. He’d closed in on himself, refused to leave Shiro’s apartment for weeks, in a moment he’d backtracked on months of progress and Pidge had received the brunt of the blame. It hadn’t been fair, and Keith wasn’t proud of it; he’d been so ashamed afterwards that he’d just let their communication sizzle out. Didn’t engage in conversations, postponed hanging out until Pidge gave up trying.

“I’m sorry, I just…” Keith really needed to learn how to apologise.

“I know,” Pidge said, “I understand.”

They were too good for him.

“You can make it up to me by being less of a jerk to my friend.”

Or perhaps they were exactly what he deserved. Keith opened his mouth the argue his case when Shiro called out behind him, “Pidge?” He brushed past Keith to pull them into a hug, half lifting them off the ground as they squealed.

“Shiro put me down!” The grin plastered across Pidge’s face was infectious and Keith found himself smiling alongside them. 

“How are you Pidge? It’s been too long!”

“Great!” they replied excitement sparkling in their eyes, “I got a job leading the tech department at the Garrison!”

“Oh awesome! Congratulations! You deserve it!” Shiro’s pride was clear, and well deserved. He’d been the one to bring both of them out of the pit they’d been digging, and to see how far Pidge had come since her days hacking the President’s twitter account was what being a counselor was all about for Shiro.

Keith watched his friends interact, as though the time since they’d seen one another was weeks rather than years, as though they didn’t all know that it was Keith who’d kept them apart for so long. His eyes wandered back to Lance who was scowling into his drink. Keith couldn’t believe that Pidge was friends with that guy, Pidge was the kind of person who picked their friends carefully, or at least they used to be. Why would they be friends with Lance?

~~~

Lance’s reaction to Pidge’s apparent friendship with Keith was a crash course on the five stages of grief. 

He’d started, of course, with denial. Surely there was a reason Pidge looked so surprised to see Keith, maybe he had a pimple, or was wearing his shirt inside out. Maybe he was an enemy and they were There had to be an explanation for the way they hugged him that didn’t involve them knowing one another. It couldn’t be true. 

Lance’s transition to anger came hard and fast. Keith already made him hate going to the job he loved, now he had to infect his personal life? Pidge of all people! Hunk he could understand: Hunk was incredibly patient and forgiving; he wanted to be friends with the entire world. For example, Hunk was currently listening to him rage and rant with very little comment as the events unfolded before them. Pidge, on the other hand, was picky; Pidge chose their friends wisely, so why the fuck would they be friends with an ass like Keith? 

Bargaining didn't come until the drop-dead gorgeous man who had been sitting with Keith returned. Was he Keith's soulmate? No... that didn't make any sense, why would Keith be ashamed of _that_? He watched Pidge point to them. They better not be inviting Keith over. “Maybe if I start paying for first round they’ll stop being friends with him.” His bargaining stage was quickly debunked by Hunk. “They’d be more likely to kick you in the shins.” 

It was true. Pidge was the most loyal friend Lance knew, once they decided you were worth their time they latched onto you and never let go. If Keith was their friend, and Lance wasn’t accepting that was the case yet, no amount of alcohol would sway her. 

Next came depression, a spiralling whirlpool in Lance’s stomach, slowly building up speed as he watched Pidge and Keith interact, a soft smile on Keith that Lance had never seen before. He didn’t want to have to deal with him, Pidge was _Lance’s_ friend! Why did Keith have to ruin every aspect of his life, it had been three days and already Keith had sunk his claws deep into Lance’s love of his job, his confidentiality with his friends, what was next? Keith would ruin his love of music? His heart sank further as Pidge hugged Keith again, an awkward one handed hug that was unlike Pidge but Lance supposed that Keith wasn’t the hugging type.

Thankfully, they headed over to the booth alone, their drinks in hand.

“Pidgeon Holt, what in living fuck was that about?! How do you know Keith?” Lance didn’t care that he was yelling, that Keith could probably hear every word he was saying.

Instead of moving on to acceptance Lance had done a stylish loop back to anger. Not that he particularly cared when _Pidge was hugging his enemy_.

“Chill out Lance. Keith and I were friends in troubled teens.”

Lance frowned at Pidge—okay fine, he was pouting—his eyebrows knitted together trying to remember Pidge mentioning Keith before. He could only recall Pidge talking about one person before they moved into their apartment on campus. Surely… surely they were talking about someone else, Keith couldn’t be _that_ friend.

“You’re saying that the guy Lance has been bitching about non-stop for days is the same guy that got you into college?”

Pidge smiled then, feeding off the chaos. “Yup,” they said gleefully. 

“But—but that guy… He—you! I...he!”

“Was that meant to be intelligible Lance?” Pidge teased.

“It can’t be him!” Lance protested. “Keith is an asshole! That guy was a legend! He can’t be the same person! No! I refuse!’

“You can’t refuse my memories Lance.”

“Fucking watch me. Keith is the worst kind of person!” Lance slammed his drink on the table in a completely necessary manner, the froths of the purple drink making his hands sticky as they overflowed. 

Pidge narrowed their eyes at him. “Lance,” they said firmly, and Lance knew he would not win this fight. “I love you to pieces, but Keith got me through the worst time of my life so I think you need to get over this ridiculous grudge that you are clinging onto for no fucking reason.”

No fucking reason? Lance matched their expression, pursing his lips. When he spoke he kept his voice down, hissing rather than shouting so Keith wouldn’t overhear.

“He was rude, and insulting, and he hates soulmates Pidge! He works for a soulmate agency and yet can’t seem to stand the idea of them! What is up with that? Why is he so ashamed of his marks?”

Pidge bit their lip, so small if Lance hadn’t be staring he wouldn’t have noticed the shift at all. Their eyes were glistening a little brighter, eyebrows turned up slightly in the centre. The fire had burnt out and been replaced with something sad.

“That’s not my story to tell Lance.” they replied, their words spoken slow and careful, “Keith is a good guy, and you are gaining nothing from working a dud case, so get the fuck over your pride and try again.” 

Lance huffed angrily into his drink, fogging up the glass, and glanced between the shoulders of his friends to where Keith was sitting. He was sticking his tongue out at Shiro, his nose scrunched up in a way that was almost cute. If you could look past the obnoxious body language. And the hair. In his shock over Pidge, Lance had completely forgotten to complain about the fact that Keith Kogane had a _mullet_. It was the first time Lance had seen him with it not tied up. What kind of 21st century human being had a mullet? They were nineties kids. They laugh in the face of mullets. And yet, despite it all, despite the fact that Lance would never admit it to a living soul, Keith was actually somehow pulling it off? It pissed Lance off to no end. 

He knew Pidge was right. He knew that he would have to make nice with Keith if he had any chance of making this partnership work. He’d have to swallow his pride. Lance hated it when he had to do that; it was embarrassing. And Keith had been an asshole too! Lance shouldn’t have to be the bigger man, he deserved an apology too.

“Lance,” Hunk said, much softer than Pidge, level and calm, the voice that just explained the facts at face value. Unfortunately also the voice that Lance couldn’t say no too, and Hunk _knew_ that. “You need to make this work, otherwise it will just be painful for both of you.”

Lance sighed; a long dramatic sigh that he knew his friends would see right through but he did it anyway in case anyone else was watching. “I know,” he said, hanging his head, “I will.”

“Good.” Hunk said at the same time that Pidge said.

“Well there’s no time like the present.”

Lance snapped his head up to look at them incredulously.

“What? Now?”

“Well why not?” Hunk said, betraying Lance with a spark of mischief in his eyes.

“Yeah Lance, he’s right over there,” Pidge teased, “I’ll wave him over.”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Lance hissed, grabbing them by the wrist as Pidge cackled. 

“Or what?” Pidge shot back, raising their eyebrows as they cocked their head at him, a smirk dancing across their lips.

“You know what you little gremlin?”

 

“What Lance? What are you going to do?”

 

“I’ll put your coffee on the top shelf where you can’t reach it!” Lance threatened. Gaining a well practised evil eye in return.

“I’ll kick in your kneecaps,” they hissed.

“I’ll stand on a table shortass!”

“I’ll stand on Hunk’s shoulders!”

“Like Hunk would betray me like that!”  
“Hunk!” 

“Why don’t I go get some cake and we just play nice.” Hunk placated, holding his hands in the air as both Lance and Pidge glared at him, but then they comprehended what Hunk was suggesting. 

“Ooh cake,” Lance said hopefully.

“What kind of cake?” Pidge added.

“But first Lance needs to talk to Keith.” And in one fail swoop Lance was back at depression.

Lance whined, hitting his head on the table. “But guuuys, he’s with a friend, I don’t want to interrupt that.”

“Oh trust me,” Pidge said, “Shiro won’t mind, if I know him at all he’ll be grateful you made the first move.” 

“But Pidge! He’s probably busy! And doesn’t want me interrupting is personal time! And… and I don’t want to…” Lance trailed off, hanging his head. 

“Come on Lance, go buy him a drink and apologise, get this out of the way before you have to work together tomorrow,” Hunk reasoned.

Lance pouted, but Hunk was desensitised to his puppy dog eyes and Pidge was well… Pidge. So it didn’t work as much as give him time to formulate a new plan. Fortunately one popped up in front of him as his phone rang. 

**Caller ID: My Heart and Soul <3**

Saved by the bell, Lance hopped to his feet and waved the smiling image of Nyma in his friends faces. 

“Sorry! Better take this! Probably an emergency! Better head out! Bye!” Lance yelled while power walking to the door; he ignored the slight purse of Hunk’s lips, or the way Pidge frowned. Instead he found his gaze landing on Keith, Nyma’s voice chatting in his ear about coming home. Keith glanced up to meet his stare, Keith blinked, his eyes owlish as he tucked he sucked on his top lip, before setting his jaw and giving Lance the smallest of waves. 

Lance didn’t know how to respond to that. How the fuck was one suppose to respond to that? Keith couldn’t act like a normal person with normal reactions just once in a while could he? Lance raised his hand in what he knew was in a very awkward fashion before he again got pulled into his conversation with Nyma. 

“Yeah love, I’ll be home in ten.” 

~~~

 

Lance lay next to Nyma, she was fast asleep, sweat still shining on her forehead from riding him until he’d forgotten all about Keith and what he would have to do the next day. It was her go to solution to stop Lance from overthinking. The only problem was that Nyma always fell asleep after sex, like almost instantly; which was fine, it just meant that Lance couldn’t talk to her about his problems, leaving him alone to his own thoughts. Usually it was okay, he would think about the stars, or his cases, or how fucking gorgeous his soulmate was. But tonight all he could think about was Keith. Hot-headed Keith and his stupid mullet and snarky mouth, who riled Lance up so much. Who Lance had to apologise to or face the wrath of his friends. 

 

~~~ 

The coffee in Lance’s hand was going to go cold before he worked up the courage to walk into the office. Seriously, he’d been stalling in the lobby with Romelle for almost ten minutes now and he could feel the heat seeping out of the drink he’d bought as a peace offering for Keith. 

_Just go give it to him. Why must you make everything so difficult!_ It sounded so simple in his head. It made a lot of sense. Now Lance just had to convince his legs to walk up the stairs. 

He also had to figure out what he was going to actually say. Did he admit that he’d known the case was a transfer one from day one and he was just being petty when he lied about having finished it? Or say he only figured it out today and seem like a complete idiot for taking four days to notice that it was a dud?

Both ways were bad hence why Lance was delaying his ascent, to where he was sure Keith was already waiting, with everything he had. The chime of the door opening was an annoying chirping noise, it was sweet enough the first time, but listening to it everyday would drive Lance nuts, he did not envy Romelle at all.It was annoying but it wasn’t enough to make him look up from his dilemma to see who had come in, however, the disgruntled swearing coming both from behind him and the shout from Romelle certainly was.

Keith had gotten halfway through the lobby before disaster had struck. Lance watched as he tucked a piece of hair behind his ears and tried to mop up the spilt coffee with his scarf. Romelle ran over with a box of tissues which Keith took and as he looked up he locked eyes with Lance and blushed, it was then Lance realised there were two empty coffee cups on the floor. 

_Keith brought me coffee._

Lance grinned and lifted his own tray, proudly showing the pair of coffees _he’d_ managed to get through the door. However he hadn’t been expecting Romelle to rush past him again, to get to the back room, successfully knocking the tray out of his hand. The cups seemed to fall in slow motion, but Lance’s hands were frozen in place, unable to stop them. They fell to the floor with a crash, the expensive beverages coating the floor, splashing across his shoes.

Romelle looked at him with wide eyes, handed him the paper towels and ran back to the break room to get more for Keith.

Keith was staring at the mess Lance had made, then the mess he had made, and back to Lance. His mouth twitched, the corners coming up and like the bursting of a dam he was laughing. Keith’s laugh reminded Lance of his mother’s, he laughed with his whole body, shaking as he leaned on his scarf. It was infectious, giggles bubbling up through Lance until he was clutching the front desk for support. It wasn’t even that funny, yet as they laughed Lance felt hope blooming that maybe they could get along.

“What is going on in here?” _oh shit_ , Lance thought as Lotor’s voice echoed through the room.

He and Keith jumped to their feet, “Just a bit of an accident sir,” Lance said, “we were just cleaning it up.”

“Let the people I pay to clean do that,” Lotor growled, “Focus on your own jobs.”

“Yes sir,” Keith said, picking up his drenched scarf and walking quickly to the stairs with Lance not far behind. Keith’s body was still shaking from compressed laughter and he smiled at Lance. 

“Sorry bout the coffee,” he said. Lance huffed a laugh.

“Four coffees and neither of us got to drink any, we really do make a good team.”

They walked into their office with smiles on their faces, talking about something Romelle had let slip earlier. It was still awkward, but it wasn’t hostile, so something had come out of the coffees.

“So…” Lance said as Keith took his seat. “Got any new cases?”

“No, but usually one will come up in the morning,” Keith replied casually, he gave Lance a pointed look. “Why do you ask?”

Lance looked at the floor. “Well actually…” he trailed off, _just tell him Lance_. “I was hoping we could work the next one together.”

“Oh? Why’s that then,” Keith’s voice sounded innocent enough, but Lance’s gut was screaming that his slight head tilt and large eyes was a trap. “Don’t you already have an open case?”

“Actually that ended up being a bit of dud, turns out his soulmate is out of state so I had to pass it on to the national teams.”

“I know.” Lance’s mouth dropped open as he stared openly at Keith who just shrugged, “I saw you shove the transfer forms in your desk on the first day.” 

_Oh god._

Lance was red from the top of his ears to the base of his neck, his mouth hung open. 

_Oh god oh god oh god._

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, not calming Lance’s inner freak out at all because _holy shit he knew_ , “You can try and help me with the next case.” 

_Wait a second.._

“What do you mean by try?” Lance snapped.

“Nothing!” Keith quickly tried to backtrack, “I just meant we should work together.”

“No you meant that I couldn’t keep up with you,” Lance said shortly, lips pursed at the insult. 

“No, Lance—”

“I think that you need a reality check,” Lance cut him off. “I’m not some loser from the first floor, I have been in this company for three years and I am damn good at my job.” 

“I wasn’t saying you weren’t—”

“No that’s exactly what you were saying,” Lance interrupted again, he wasn’t going to let Keith feed him bullshit excuses, “So here’s what we are going to do, the next client that you deem worthy we will both work, separately.” 

“Like a race?” Keith asked dubiously.

“First person to find the soulmate wins.”

“You really don’t want to do that.”

Lance narrowed his eyes at Keith, at the completely unimpressed expression on his face. He really didn’t think Lance had a shot at this. This was his profession too, and unlike Keith, Lance had the advantage of loving it. “Try me Mullet.”

 

Keith held his hands up in defeat, _a clear sign for what’s to come for Keith_. “Fine by me,” Keith replied, his eyes rolling to the back of his head, as though Lance were some kid telling him he wasn’t allowed to come to his birthday party. 

Lance was going to prove to Keith that he was not to be underestimated.

 

~~~

The client’s name was Janie Mock. She was young, brash and had no regards for money. Basically an asshole . It didn’t matter, Lance still smiled, he shook her hand and asked her if she were ready to meet her destiny.

What a line that was, Lance used it because he knew that the clients either loved it, or got a laugh out of it. Lance was also a very cheesy person, he liked the idea of the line, though to him, it sounded too much like he were walking the clients to their doom. It added to the fun.

Lance had been staring at the photos of her marks for an hour; Keith had made one phone call and left, but Lance found the best way to figure out a mark was good old-fashioned sleuth work. He had to figure out the specifics of the small details that people might overlook. Soulmarks were detailed things, they were full of clues if you knew where to look.

Right now Lance’s gut was pulling him to the flow of water on the left side of the mark. To the untrained eye—to Janie’s eye as she had painstakingly tried to tell them at least six times—it would look like the ocean, but Lance could see the thin lines around the edges of the water, the way they swirl, it’s not a wave, it’s a water jet, the froth in the colour of her skin bubbles. More likely than not a spa. 

It was a good lead, he’d already called to talk to her about places she usually frequented. He was now leaving the last spa, only one place had resisted his charm and soulmate agency jacket and not given him the names of people who matched the profiles. Of course he wasn’t legally able to get the contact details of the three people who had matched the requirements but he had been able to see when their next appointment was, the first of which was tomorrow so he would be able to go in and talk to them.

It was a solid days work; Lance was proud of what he had achieved and he couldn’t wait to rub it in to Keith’s smug face. He walked into their office with a shit eating grin on his face, Keith was sitting at his desk, feet tucked up on the chair fiddling with his phone. 

“How’d you go?” Lance said smugly, he couldn’t wait to tell Keith all he had achieve—without giving him details of course—Lance was just so—

“I solved it.” 

“WHAT!” That was not a shriek, it was a yell, Lance would never scream at something like that, no matter that it was high enough to startle an unbalanced Keith onto the ground. 

“The signing papers are on your desk if you don’t believe me. I figured since you worked on it too you would want to sign it and get the bonus.” Keith wasn’t even looking up at him, concentrating on whoever he was texting on his phone. He couldn’t see Lance’s outrage: reddened face, clenched fists, eyes burning with righteous fury.

“You can’t be done! It’s been a day! I figured out the main clue at the spa! I visited them all!”

“Did you go to the one on Coris Way?” Keith replied, infuriatingly calm. “There is a little statue of a Tiger there that was on the base of her palm. We met her soulmate there. His name’s Michael, he works as a masseuse at the spa down there.” 

“How the fuck did you figure that out!” Lance was still yelling, but this time he finally got a rise out of his partner.

“Would you stop yelling, there’s no need to be a sore loser,” Keith snapped, “I told you a race wasn’t a good idea.” 

Lance gasped like he hadn’t breathed for days, a raspy dramatic breath that involved his entire body, his hand clutching his chest. “I am not a sore loser!” he cried. “You are just a bad partner! You used whatever source you called to cheat!”

“Are you fucking serious right now?” Keith slammed his phone down and stormed to Lance’s desk, grabbing the client contract off it, the pink piece of paper cracking as Keith bunched it in his fist.

“What are you doing?” Lance stepped forward, his hand ghosting towards the paper.

“I’m seeing if my source wants to file this client, since apparently they are the one who did all the work. I’m sure they’ll be _thrilled_ to receive your bonus!” Keith grabbed his stuff and left the room, slamming the door on his way out.

Lance was left alone with nothing to direct his anger at, the image of Keith yelling, how he took Lance’s bonus even though Lance had worked so hard. Lance ripped open his drawer and pulled out the partner reassignment form he had grabbed after the first day and filled it out. He dropped it in Allura’s dropbox as he left, a small weight lifting off his chest as he knew very soon he could say goodbye to working with Keith forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! 
> 
> Come talk to me on tumblr


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So,” Lance said once his sister had left, leaning forward against the table, “be straight with me. How did you do that?”
> 
> Keith stiffened, his heart pounded against his ribs as he schooled his face into what he hoped would appear as genuine confusion. He was pretty sure it came across closer to terror, so he shut it down, called on years of coping mechanisms for dealing with unkind foster homes to tear it all down. No emotions were better than fear or anger. Unfortunately, by the way lines etched across his brow, Lance had noticed the change. 
> 
> “What do you mean?” Keith replied stonily.
> 
> “What do you mean what do I mean?” Lance exclaimed, “Obviously I’m talking about how you managed to figure out and specifically locate a soulmate in barely an hour!”
> 
> “Oh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I told three people I would be updating today so here it is... This chapter and I had several rounds in the ring, we are not on speaking terms, I will be holding a grudge for 14 days. But my beautiful beta says it's alright so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Enjoy! 
> 
> -Liz

It was going to be a good day. Lance walked into work with a grin on his face, a merry hello to Romelle and a wave to the guy who played the harp on Tuesday’s who’s name Lance _always_ forgot. But that didn’t matter right now, because today was a good day.

Allura had emailed him last night asking him to meet her the next morning. That could only mean she had put through his application and now he could get some real work done with an actual partner.

Lance practically skipped into Allura's office.

“Morning Allura,” he called cheerily, plopping himself down into the plush rose coloured seats across from her desk.

“Hello, Lance,” Lance’s enthusiasm halted for a moment at the tone of her voice. She looked up at him, her wild white hair tied back in a messy bun, the strands at the front framing her face with the ease of ten million hair products. “Don't worry about knocking.”

Okay, there was definitely something wrong.

“You asked to see me?”

“I got your application,” Allura reached into the drawer of her desk. “And I must say I am thoroughly disappointed in you Lance.”

Well, that was a punch to the gut. She straightened the documents as she spoke.

“I put you and Keith together because I thought you would be good for each other. And perhaps I was wrong, but this,” She slapped the form in front of him, “This is disgraceful!” 

“Putting aside the fact that your handwriting is illegible and you didn’t even bother to date it, I put you and Keith together for a reason. You two are the best detectives I have and I paired you up because I knew that, despite your differences, you would work well together,” Lance opened his mouth to argue but the simple flare in Allura’s nostrils as she stared him down had him closing it again.

“I am appalled at the two of you, you are not children, this is not a kindergarten where you get to pick and choose who you play with. I mean honestly, you didn’t even try!” She huffed at him. “Suffice to say I will not be reassigning you, not only that but I expect you and Keith to start a new case together by the end of the day or I may have to reconsider whether or not you have the attitude required for this job.”

Lance’s breathe caught in his throat, he felt as small as a child beneath that murderous glare. 

“Do I make myself understood?” she finished, her long nails tapping against the hardwood desk.

“Yes, Allura.” 

She sighed, “Lance, I know that Keith can be a lot, but trying this partnership, trusting him, may well be the best decision you make in your career. His instincts almost always lead him in the right direction.” There was something behind her words that Lance wasn’t understanding, like a secret that he hadn’t yet unlocked.

Allura walked him back to his office, where Keith was already waiting. She had outright refused to let him walk alone, it became clear why as she pointed a manicured finger at them, “Your new client will be arriving at 9am,” she said sternly. “Work the case together or expect to be doing paperwork for the rest of your careers, do you understand?”

“Yes,” Keith said, Lance nodded curtly.

She smiled, “Wonderful! I wish you both the best of luck.” 

~~~

Lance watched this time. He watched Keith's fingers deliberate over the marks, watched his eyes glaze over and slowly trail from Mx. Coppers hand to a spot on the floor following an invisible line out the door. Keith snapped back to attention, his eyes furrowed as they once again examined the marks. 

He must have spotted something because a smirk slid onto his face and he moved back to his desk to pick up his phone. Lance smiled at the client, examining the marks himself, asking questions about zir homelife, if ze had any theories. If Lance knew anything, when it came to soulmates, middle-aged people loved to let the detectives know they didn't _really_ need them. It didn't bother Lance, small talk came easy, especially if it led to them asking about his own soulmate, which it usually did. 

"Yeah that's her there," he said, smiling warmly at the photo on his desk. 

Then they would ask about their first meeting, a story Lance loved to tell.

"You'll never believe it, I was drugged in a club and she saved me. I was unconscious when our colours came through."

It was one of those stories that people remembered after they left, and it usually helped with his bonus and reviews. And it was the sort of talk Lance could do without thinking about it, it let him focus on the marks at hand. 

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to go on here, trees decorated half the palm, squirrel leaping across the trees. The other half was covered in flames, sparks and ash rising across to dance at the edge of the trees. A forest fire perhaps? But that would be almost impossible to predict in advance, their soulmate would—

"Got it! Let's go," Keith's cry came with the creak of the cupboard and Lance watched him pull a bright red and white jacket on, branded at the back with the company logo. The detective's jacket. Lance had one too of course, but he rarely wore it this time of year. The material was cheap and thin and nowhere near warm enough for the current weather but that didn't seem to bother Keith as he left, pausing only to gesture for the two of them to follow.

Lance held up a hand, not one finger because his Mami taught him early on that that is rude, to ask the client to wait, a calming smile on his face. “One moment, I just need to sidebar with my partner.”

Lance grabbed Keith’s arm, tugging him to the side of the hallway. “There is no way you have got anything, why are you getting his hopes up,” Lance hissed.

“This partnership will work a whole lot better if you don’t doubt me so much,” Keith muttered back.

“Then tell me, oh great and mighty seer, how the fuck do you know where we are going,” Lance asked, keeping his sarcasm as quiet as possible even if he wanted to be proclaiming this as loud as he could.

“The trees are Sweetgums, they aren’t common and the only grow in this Meyer’s Park,” Keith explained impatiently, his eyes darting toward the staircase as Lance stared at him.

If Lance’s eyebrows were any higher they’d be flying, his mouth was gaping slightly and he was aiming for _Are you fucking kidding me how in the living fuck did you even?_ with his eyes. Unfortunately, through no fault of his Lance’s of course, he didn’t think Keith got the message so he repeated it verbally. 

“How the hell do you even know that,” Lance asked.

“I uh…” Keith blanched, blinking rapidly as if he hadn’t actually expected Lance to question him. “I’m really uh...I’m just really interested in botany.” 

Keith was so embarrassed: a blush creeping up his neck, jaw set, lips pursed into a tight pout. A ball of fight me stood before Lance and fucking hell was it _cute_.

The teasing smile that had been on Lance’s face froze at the unbidden thought. Where had cute come from? Hot, sure, Lance wasn’t blind, Keith was a clear example that Lance was far from straight. But that was just attraction, that happened all the time, the world was full of smoking hot people, but cute? Cute was for kittens, for baby socks, and the way Nyma smiles when they watch the horror movies that terrify Lance. Bambi was cute. Keith was not Bambi. Keith could not be cute. Lance had to push through this, he couldn’t let Keith see how distracted he was.

“YOU KNOW BOTANY?” _Lance no, quieter_ “That’s so funny,” _that’s so fake Lance, come on buddy you got this, you are perfectly capable of acting like a human being._ “I mean, I just can’t see you planting trees and growing flowers with, red overalls and a straw hat.” _Lance you really didn’t need that image in your head._

Keith looked understandably confused. Lance was confusing himself so there was no way Keith could be keeping up. He pouted again, “What’s wrong with that?”

Lance just shook his head chuckling, saying the first true thing, “I just can’t get a read on you man.”

Keith nodded his head silently, his lips twitching to the side, eyes sidelining to the door. “So can we go now?” 

Trust him. That’s what Allura had said. Trust Keith’s instincts because they always led him in the right direction. Lance tried to get a reading on Keith, any reading at all, but the man just stood silently, dark grey eyes darting anywhere but to meet Lance’s, he didn’t know what to make of it, of this sudden knowledge of where to go. So, Lance just nodded and, breaking out the smile that hurt the sides of his mouth after an hour, he turned back to the client, gesturing for them to follow. Perhaps he would understand more on the job.

Lance smelt the telltale scent of smoke long as soon as they stepped out of his car. There was a fire burning across the trees, assumably of the tree Keith had talked about, the one on their client’s palm. 

Lucky guess? 

Lance didn’t know, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. Keith split the crowds surrounding the fire like a hurricane, not glancing any which way as he went, focused solely on his target, which seemed to be a food vendor. Lance kept up with Keith, his arm hooked in their clients so he wouldn’t lose them in the crowd. 

Lance watched Keith approached the startled woman standing behind the register, handing a corndog to another customer. Keith said some quick words to her, ones that Lance didn’t catch before her eyes lit up and she nodded excitedly. Keith smiled and gestured to the client. Lance felt the need to rectify that last point, Keith _smiled _as he watched the soulmates made first contact, the colours blooming lilac on their palms held out between them. Lance loved this part, he loved watching two people, two souls, finding one another. But right now, the only thing he could see was Keith, and how genuinely soft his expression was. Lance had never seen more than a forced neutral gaze from Keith when it came to soulmarks, but now, now he was _smiling_ like a normal person would be. Lance really didn’t know what to make of Keith. __

__~~~_ _

__It could have gone worse._ _

__That’s the attitude Keith was taking after his first morning working with Lance. It could’ve gone worse._ _

__Keith thought it was a pretty positive one all things considered._ _

__Thank goodness it was an easy case, open and close with an obvious path. There weren’t many places that had a mixture of Sal’s Corndogs and the burning of trees. And Lance had believed his awful lie about botany. Keith really needed to get better at using the plan he and Shiro had come up with on the spot. Now he’d dug himself a nice little botanic hole, something he knew absolutely nothing about, he didn’t even know if the tree he’d told Lance was the same as on the marks! It was bad. Now if he wanted to keep the lie he’d actually have to learn something about plants. And worse, he’d had to text Adam on the car ride to the park about it if he wanted to get a discount on books._ _

___**Chat:Adam**  
9.03 [you]  
 _Hey, any chance you could pick up some books on gardening and botany for me?_  
9.52 [Adam]  
 _Keith you don’t have a garden_  
9.52 [Adam]  
 _What did you do?__

__Keith had left him on read for twenty-seven minutes. In three, Adam would call Shiro. Adam knew that. Keith knew that. It was their agreement because most of the time, they also knew Keith didn’t want Shiro to know._ _

___**Chat:Adam**  
10.19 [you]  
 _Please? Can you just do a no questions asked?  
10.21 [Adam]  
 _Nope. You still owe me one for the cello, I’m not giving more out till you pay me back. Tell me what you did or pay full price for your books. _  
10.22 [you]  
 _I told you about the cello!_  
10.22 [Adam]  
 _A week after it happened and because I’m such an awesome brother, I didn’t tell Shiro the truth right away so it counts._____

_____Keith loved Adam. Adam was cool and collected and didn’t let Shiro fall into any pits that tended to open up around him through his career. Adam had welcomed him with open arms when he had nowhere else to go and he’d never told Shiro, his soulmate, about the aforementioned cello incident where Keith may have thrown his cello at a wall. So sure, Keith had a lot to thank and love Adam for; it didn’t make him any less annoying at times like this._ _ _ _ _

_________**Chat:Adam**  
10.23 [you]  
 _are you serious?_  
10.23 [Adam]  
 _Spill your secrets to me Kleine Bach  
10.23 [Adam]  
 _you know you want ot_  
10.23 [Adam]  
 _to*_  
10.24 [you]  
 _i hate you_  
10.24 [you]  
 _I told Lance i was a botany expert to get him to back off as to how I knew wehre a client was_  
10.25 [Adam]  
 _oh keith, youve made my day_  
10.25 [Adam]  
 _thank you for that_  
10.25 [Adam]  
 _Ill be telling that story to the grandkids_  
10.26 [you]  
 _Oh fuck off_  
10.26 [you]  
 _Are you going to get me the books or not?_  
10.26 [Adam]  
 _Yeah yeah, i’ll get the botany books, tree lover._   
10.26 [you]  
 _please tell me you didnt_  
10.27 [Adam]  
 _you bet i did_  
10.27 [you]  
 _i hate you_  
10.27 [Adam]  
 _love you too little bro, see you tonight___

______Adam went through nicknames like a kid went through halloween sweets; he made sure that he always had the most recent saved in his phone. So far Keith had been: Emo Child #2, Young Man, Keefers, and most recently Kleine Bach, which is what he started calling him after the cello incident. Keith had a feeling Tree Lover was going to stick a long time._ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith huffed, throwing his head back into the car seat, earning a hum from Lance._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You right there, man?” he asked, they were on their way to some cafe Lance claimed was his go-to place after solving a case. A treat for good work, because apparently, they were little kids again. Keith had to hold in a dry laugh at the thought of getting treats as a kid._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yeah, my brother-in-law is just a pain in the ass.” In-law was an old-fashioned term, people didn’t get married anymore unless they were with someone other than their soulmate which was extremely rare. It was Adam who suggested that’s how Keith refer to him, since, at the time, he was struggling even using the word ‘soulmate’. Keith learnt how to deal with the word, but he still liked to refer to Adam as his brother-in-law rather than ‘his brother’s soulmate’ because it felt more personal, showed that Adam was his brother too. It usually got him off comments and funny looks though._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh man I know that feeling,” Lance replied, not commenting at all on Keith’s choice of words, “My brother has been mated since the day after we moved to the States, and I love Lisa to death but she’s such a neat freak, drives me crazy sometimes.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith was a little surprised at how easy the response had come, how easy Lance had slipped a personal anecdote into the conversation without spontaneously combusting like Keith felt he would every time he tried._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You weren’t born here?” Keith inquired tentatively, he didn’t want to push—well actually, that’s a complete lie—he wanted to see if he could push this conversation further._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Nah, Cuba. My Papi got headhunted as an engineer at the Garrison when I was twelve so we all moved here to support him.” Once again, no issues, no shake of his hands, Lance didn’t even glance at Keith, which was probably good since he was driving._ _ _ _ _ _

______They went back and forth like that, Keith asking questions and Lance answering them, all the way to the coffee shop. Lance didn’t seem to notice that Keith hadn’t shared anything about himself, or maybe Lance didn’t care, he certainly seemed content talking about his family._ _ _ _ _ _

______“No, but really, I love my niece and nephew to death but sometimes I really want to strangle them. Like just last weekend I was helping Nadia out of the bath and she pulled me in instead!” Lance exclaimed as he climbed out if the car._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Honestly Lance, that just sounds endearing,”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“It was a cold bubble bath, Keith, I was fully dressed,” Lance deadpanned, looking at Keith like he were on ‘The Office’._ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith laughed, it was the longest casual conversation Keith had had with someone other than Pidge or Shiro for as long as he could remember. And it was with _Lance_. It was going well, then Keith turned to where they had come for coffee. _ _ _ _ _ _

______“You drove us all the way across the city for Mamora Coffee? You realise there’s one a block from our work.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Ah, but the one by our work does not have my sister as the barista and so, therefore, won’t give us half price coffees.” Lance tapped a finger thoughtfully to his temple, smiling as though he held the world’s greatest secret, as though that would make Keith understand._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You probably spent more money on the gas it took us to get here then what you will save on coffee.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“But that math doesn’t include the time spent in my sparkling company.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Then it’s definitely not worth it.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Rude.” Lance crossed his first two fingers on either hand over each other. Keith frowned._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Are you cursing me?” he asked._ _ _ _ _ _

______“What?” Lance’s turned out as he bunched up his shoulders into the most obvious shrug Keith had ever seen. “No, it’s a hashtag!” He did it again to demonstrate._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You mean like the number sign?” Keith said dubiously._ _ _ _ _ _

______Lance’s entire body seemed to droop: his hands dropping to his side, mouth dropping open, chin dropping to his neck as he looked at Keith like _he_ was the crazy one._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Be straight with me Keith, are you a time-traveller from the 80s? Are you here with The Doctor? Cause between the mullet and the _number sign_ it feels like the only logical explanation.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith rolled his eyes. “God you are such a dork, you know that?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Whatever you say Rihanna.” Lance chuckled at his own joke, “Come on then,” he gestured to the dark green building, “let’s go bug my sister.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______It didn’t take much to spot her, aside from the fact she was a living breathing female replica of Lance, she also was glaring at the pair of them as though they’d kicked her puppy, a figure pointing menacingly. So she was living breathing _raging_ female replica of Lance. _Great_._ _ _ _ _ _

______“No Lance, nah uh, ain’t happening. Get the fuck out of my store!” Rachel hissed, waving her hands about just as Lance did._ _ _ _ _ _

______“But Rachelllll, I brought a friend this time! You don’t want to disappoint little ol’ Keefers here do you?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I have no idea who this man is but I’ll have a soy cappuccino, large thanks,” Keith corrected, smirking as Lance gasped dramatically beside him._ _ _ _ _ _

______“See you, you I’ll give my discount to,” Rachel said smirking, writing the order down._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Hey hey no wait, I’m buying!” Lance cried, pushing past Keith as he reached for his wallet._ _ _ _ _ _

______“What why?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Because you were awesome today!” Lance said gesturing outside, “Plus I owe you one for the other day.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“With that logic I’d owe you one too,” Keith argued, frowning at Lance. Why was Lance insisting on this?_ _ _ _ _ _

______“It’s my treat! Don’t even try to argue.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith held his hands up in defeat, if Lance wanted to buy him coffee, who was he to refuse. “Fine, I’m always up for free coffee.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Great! I’ll have the same as him Rach with full cream and your discount if you ever want me to bring home Hunk’s cheesecake for you again.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Blackmail from my own baby brother, what would our mother say,” Rachel tsked shaking her finger at him._ _ _ _ _ _

______“That you taught me well,” Lance sang back, smiling warmly at his sister._ _ _ _ _ _

______It was easy banter, everything that Keith struggled with Lance seemed to be able to do with ease. He took a seat at one of the booths as Rachel made their drinks, still chatting away with Lance._ _ _ _ _ _

______“So what’s someone as good-looking as you doing hanging out with my loser baby brother?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith froze as the attention of the room landed on him. Was she… was she flirting with him? Fuck, no, Keith didn’t know how to handle flirting. His hands shook as alarms sounded in his head. This was Lance’s sister, how the hell did he get into this situation._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Rachel!” Lance snapped, looking horrified. “Don’t flirt with my partner!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Why not?” she smirked at Keith, a playful flirtatious smirk that made Keith want to crawl into a hole in the wall and live amongst the mice for the rest of his meaningless life. “What’s the point in waiting?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I… I don’t… I’m not…” It was as though Keith’s voice was being sucked here away by that damn smirk. It didn’t help that Keith was certain he’d seen the same look on Lance. His han_ _ _ _ _ _

______“You’re not what sweetie?” Rachel cooed, leaning over the counter, “Not sure? Not ready? Not mated.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Not straight!” Keith blurted out spraying spit onto Rachels glasses. Lance burst out laughing beside them as Rachel swore, wiping at her face with a napkin, moving to the back of the store again whining about Lance’s dumb friends._ _ _ _ _ _

______“So,” Lance said once his sister had left, leaning forward against the table, “be straight with me. How did you do that?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith stiffened, his heart pounded against his ribs as he schooled his face into what he hoped would appear as genuine confusion. He was pretty sure it came across closer to terror, so he shut it down, called on years of coping mechanisms for dealing with unkind foster homes to tear it all down. No emotions were better than fear or anger. Unfortunately, by the way lines etched across his brow, Lance had noticed the change._ _ _ _ _ _

______“What do you mean?” Keith replied stonily._ _ _ _ _ _

______“What do you mean what do I mean?” Lance exclaimed, “Obviously I’m talking about how you managed to figure out and specifically locate a soulmate in barely an hour!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh,” _fuck fuck fuck fuck_ Keith shifted uncomfortably as he silently watched Lance’s grin deteriorated into a frown, irritation flickering in those bright blue eyes. _ _ _ _ _ _

______“Seriously? ‘Oh’ is all you’ve got?” Lance’s leg was jiggling under the table, his fingers twitching as he refused to break eye contact with Keith._ _ _ _ _ _

______“I uh.. I have… I a source,” Keith spluttered, tugging on the edges of his gloves under the table._ _ _ _ _ _

______Lance spread his hands, “Any chance you want to share with the class?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“No.” Keith didn’t mean for it to sound so harsh, so absolute. But he couldn’t share, could he? It was Shiro’s idea to have him use a source, apparently, Shiro wasn’t expecting his partner to be so curious. Which was a pretty big oversight for a human reactions councillor._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Seriously?” Lance laughed, pursing his lips as he shook his head at Keith. “Come on man, it’s not like I’m going to steal it, just tell me where you’re getting your intel.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“No sorry, I can’t.” Keith sipped at his coffee, the mug warming his hands._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Why the fuck not? We’re partners!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______It was Keith’s turn to laugh. “Partners? We’ve worked one case together.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Barely,” Lance muttered, “I was hardly a part of it.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Is that what this is about? You’re jealous of the fact I can solve cases better than you?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“No! It’s about you being a selfish ass who apparently was never taught to share.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Fuck—” Keith slammed down his cup as he yelled, hissing as the glass shattered. Hot coffee coating the countertop. Rachel was at their table in a moment, hauling Keith out of his seat._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Get out!” she ordered, pointing at the door. Keith looked between Lance, who was still staring wide-eyed at the spilling coffee, regret pooling in his gut._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Now.” she insisted when Keith did not move. “Leave.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______This wasn’t how Shiro’s plan was meant to go._ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith left the cafe, Shiro’s contact already open in his hand._ _ _ _ _ _

______~~~_ _ _ _ _ _

______The good thing about Lance’ choice in cafe was that it meant the centre where Shiro worked was only a few blocks away rather than the other side of town. Shiro’s knack for being able to talk Keith down off edges had been essential with his ability to hold his job. Shiro helped him sort through his rants, figure out what which aspects were stress and which were problematic. It had been a system of their since Keith had started coming to the centre as a teen, over ten years ago._ _ _ _ _ _

______So when Keith slumped into the sofa chair across from his older brother, they both knew how this would play out._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You need to go back and talk to him,” Shiro said firmly once Keith had finished telling his story._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yeah I know,” Keith muttered, sinking into his collar._ _ _ _ _ _

______Shiro sighed, smiling sadly at him. “I’ll give you a lift back after my next kid so you don’t have to take the bus, but you need to text Lance and tell him.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith bit his lip but nodded. “Thanks Shiro.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith walked through the centre, he’d spent so much time here as a kid, even spent a few nights on the couch before Shiro found out, but his favourite room was right at the back of the hall. Pausing he opened the text app on his phone, Lance’s number staring up at him mockingly. They’d exchanged them in case they got separated while on the case, and now were spammed with increasingly annoyed messages that Keith had put his phone on silent to ignore._ _ _ _ _ _

___________**Chat: Lance**  
11.10 [Lance]  
 _Where are you?_  
11.13 [Lance]  
 _I want to leave please answer._  
11.19 [Lance]  
 _Come on man, you cant just disappear on me._  
11.28 [Lance]  
 _Fine. Whatever, I’m going back, have fun taking the bus._  
11.49 [you]  
 _Sorry i am with my brother._  
11.50 [Lance]  
 _I’ll be back by 1.30__

______Keith pockets his phone again and heads down to the music room._ _ _ _ _ _

______~~~_ _ _ _ _ _

___________**Chat: Pidge.  
Friday**   
17.10 [Pidge.]  
 _Fun fact, you are still Shortcake on my contacts list_  
17.10 [Pidge.]  
 _Another fun fact. That will never change_  
17.12 [Pidge.]  
 _Aaanyway, you free tomorrow night? I need an excuse to get out of family dinner_  
17.13 [Pidge.]  
 _I really dont need an evening of my uncles using the wrogn pronouns you know?_  
17.29 [Pidge.]  
 _its all good if you cant do tomorrow, just thought Id put it out there_  
17.37 [you]  
 _No! I want to, tomorrow works for me, want to meet here?_  
17.39 [Pidge.]  
 _oh thank god_   
17.40 [Pidge.]  
 _uh, but my car sorta died on me three weeks ago, still being repaired, any chance you could pick me up?_  
17.40 [you]  
 _you took your car to a repair shop! dont you know how much of a ripoff those places are!_  
17.41 [Pidge.]  
 _what the hell was I supposed to do? I don’t know how to fix a car!_  
17.41 [you]  
 _you call me!_  
17.41 [Pidge.]  
 _oh yeah, I’m sure that would have gone over greeeeat, hey keith, its me pidge, the friend you havent spoken to in six years! any chance you could come fix my car?_  
17.41 [Pidge.]  
 _come on Keith_  
Friday 17.41 [you]  
 _youre right. Im sorry_  
Friday 17.41 [you]  
 _i can come pick you up saturday, what time?_  
Friday 17.53 [Pidge.]  
 _sorry Matt called, 5pm work for you? Same plan as we used to do?_  
Friday 17.54 [you]  
 _sounds good, see you then_  
Friday 17.55 [Pidge.]  
 _i’m really glad we ran into each other Keith, i’ve missed you_  
Friday 17.57 [you]  
 _yeah, me too Pidge__

___________**Today**  
7.32 [you]  
 _what’s your address?_  
10.48 [Pidge.]  
 _jeez i forgot how early you get up_  
10.48 [Pidge.]  
 _7549 Birch Hill Drive_  
10.49 [Pidge.]  
 _apartment 105_  
10.52 [you]  
 _i forgot how lazy you were on your days off_  
10.52 [you]  
 _see you later_  
16.49 [you]  
 _buzz me up, im here__

______Pidge opened the door wearing thin sweatpants, thin gloves and a polo shirt. Keith sighed, “Not in a million years, go change.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“What?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“You are not getting on my bike without boots, jeans and a jacket, so I suggest you go change.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Damn, Shiro really got to you with this safety stuff,” Pidge replied grumpily before retreating back into the apartment. Hunk greeted him from the couch where he was playing Mario Kart._ _ _ _ _ _

______Hunk and Pidge’s shared apartment was the epitome of dreamistic nerd lifestyle. Posters and fanart from more fandoms than Keith could name lined the walls, hiding peeling wallpaper and cracks. There were six bookshelves in the living room alone piled high with books. It was fairly clear who’s shelves were whos. Four of the shelves were neatly organised, books arranged neatly, merch placed aesthetically around, one of the shelves was even colour coded. The other two shelves, however, they were a disaster, books stacked on top of each other shoved into corners, paper and stick-notes sticking out of almost all of them, book jackets piled to one side as though the owner had gotten sick of keeping them on the books. A quick look through the titles was only further confirmation to what Keith already knew._ _ _ _ _ _

______“So these two are Pidge’s and the rest are yours?” Keith said, not really expecting a response._ _ _ _ _ _

______Hunk chuckled, “You really do know Pidge, though the rainbow shelf is actually Lance’s.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Why would Lance have his own shelf in his friends shared apartment? He’d made it known that he lived in the suburbs with his soulmate why would he need more space here? Keith asked as much._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh yeah, Nyma,” Keith noted the bitterness behind the way Hunk said her name, “doesn't’ like so many of Lance’s young adult books around the house so he stores them here.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith hummed in response, ghosting his fingers along the spines of Lance’s books. A few titles leapt out at him as one’s Keith had read but mostly they were unfamiliar. _Looking for Alaska, I’ll Give You the Sun, Carry On, Fangirl, Carry On_ again, _Throne of Glass._ It was an impressive collection beautifully arranged so each row was a full rainbow. He kept scanning, stopping only when he read Rainbow Rowell’s name for the seventh time. “Lance really likes Carry On doesn’t he?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh ho!” Hunk laughed deeply, “He adores that book, you ever need something to talk about just bring it up and he can gush for hours.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith hummed and went back to skimming the book titles. The doorbell rang and Hunk called over his shoulder, “Can you get that? It’s my pizza and I want to beat Lance’s high level.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith opened the door not to a pizza man, but to Lance leaning against the doorframe, his fingers tangled in his hair, his head faced upwards, elbow pointed out as though he were in a dance starting position._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Hunk!” he cried, not moving his hands, “I’m here, queer and ready to bitch about—”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Lance?” Keith found his voice finally, Lance’s arm snapping down as he looked at Keith with wide eyes._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Keith!” Lance brows drew together, he glanced at the door, and back to Keith. Keith could practically see the cogs spinning in his head. “Am I...? This is Hunk’s… What are you doing here?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I’d ask you the same thing but you’ve already made the entire corridor aware you’re here to bitch about me,” Keith replied snarkily, he enjoyed watching Lance’s eyes widen in panic._ _ _ _ _ _

______“That’s not what I was going to say!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith tried to hold back his smirk, keep his expression sour._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh yeah? What were you going to say?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“High school!” Lance spat out. He stopped, shaking his head._ _ _ _ _ _

______“High school,” Keith said slowly, biting his lip to stop the laughter, though he couldn’t hold back the grin, or the way his voice wavered as he asked, “Lance do you still go to high school?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yes!” Lance frowned, he looked at the floor as though it were its fault he was trying to pass off as a twenty-six year old high school student, “No.” He pouted, lip jutted out. “Fine! I’m here to bitch about Sherlock,” he admitted, glaring at the floor, “I finally finished season four and I am bitter, sue me.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Nerd,” Pidge inputted, emerging from their room in jeans and a dark green leather jacket. “Is this better Shiro Jr.?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith rolled his eyes, “You call me that like you don’t still wear Matt’s em—”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith was cut off as Pidge tackled him, stuffing their hand over his mouth muffling his words._ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith was laughing as they hit the floor. “Pid whr thef far!” he yelled through their hand. Then smirked a little and licked a long strip on the inside of their palm. Pidge held firm, lying over him they leaned up and pressed a wet kiss to his forehead._ _ _ _ _ _

_______Oh it was on._ _ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______~~~_ _ _ _ _ _

______One minute the pair of them were being sassy to each other and the next they were rolling around on the floor cackling as Pidge tried to… suffocate Keith? But then they were shoved on their back as Keith made various disgusted sounds as he wiped his forehead._ _ _ _ _ _

______Lance had never seen Keith like this, completely comfortable in the situation, a smile tinging his fake retching. He was open, that was the difference, there were no walls, no carefully constructed faces, no secrets. Not in this moment as he interacted with Pidge._ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith was going to be a part of their life, that much was obvious, so Lance was going to have to get used to it._ _ _ _ _ _

______And he understood why Pidge would want him in their life again. He knew that their friendship came from the same childhood background that Lance had with Hunk. He could see it in front of him in the ways they interacted, the easiness of it all, the knowing looks and inside jokes that were barely noticeable from the outside but still very much there._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You guys alright there?” Lance joked as Keith got to his feet. He wished he hadn’t seen the slight drop in Keith’s grin, the squaring of his shoulders as his eyes emptied of the uncensored joy that had been there moments earlier. Or perhaps Lance wished he hadn’t seen Pidge’s Keith, so he would be able to hold his argument that he was a closed off asshole._ _ _ _ _ _

______Pidge pulled themselves to their feet using Keith’s arm as support. Keith gave them a fond smile as they tugged him passed Lance to the door._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Later nerds!” they called._ _ _ _ _ _

______Lance barely had time to reply before the door slammed behind them, he slumped down on the couch beside Hunk, who silently passed him a controller._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Lance we watched season four of Sherlock together, you ranted for days about the queerbaiting.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Can we play Call of Duty?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Hunk sighed, getting to his feet, “Sure buddy.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Lance knew that Hunk wasn’t going to let go of this, that he wouldn’t be allowed to leave without letting out whatever he needed to rant about. Hunk knew better than letting Lance bottle anything up. But right now Lance wanted to sort through his thoughts, after seeing first hand exactly how close Keith and Pidge really were he needed to reassess everything. He chewed at the inside of his mouth as he shot target after target._ _ _ _ _ _

______He couldn’t get a read on the guy and it frustrated him to no end. He’d known the guy a week and he wanted to hate him. Keith was arrogant and closed off and he hated soulmates. Or at least that’s what Lance had thought before yesterday. Before he watched Keith soften in the moment he brought the soulmates together, the joy that came from helping people that Lance had assumed Keith lacked entirely. Moments like these, scattered through the week, threw off Lance’s sense, his judgement. Laughing over spilt coffee, awkwardly rejecting his sister, the way he smiled with that man in the bar, that moment with Pidge. All those open, fun moments that would flip on their head in a second, sooner if Lance brought up soulmates on a personal level, or asked anything about Keith’s life. It was jarring how quickly Keith shut down, any glimpse of emotion gone, how blaringly secretive he became._ _ _ _ _ _

______Lance thought he’d made a decision when he smashed the glass and vanished. But then he’d showed up that afternoon with coffee for him, chocolate for Rachel and a damn good apology for the both of them. He just went ahead and confused Lance all over again._ _ _ _ _ _

______Hunk paused the game right as Lance’s tongue was coated in a metallic taste.  
“Alright, tell me what’s going on.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Noth—”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“No.” Hunk cut him off. “You missed more than you hit in the game and I’ve been listening to you chew on your cheek for an hour. You are frustrated. Tell what’s going on.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Sometimes Lance wished Hunk didn’t know him as well as he did._ _ _ _ _ _

______“He’s just so... ugh!” Lance whined. “I can’t figure him out. God Hunk you should’ve seen it, it was incredible. He solved the entire case in less than an hour! He just knew, like something was pulling him there he didn’t even look at anyone else. It was impossible, what he did feels impossible.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Did you ask him about it?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yes!” Lance protested, “I did! Nicely too. I took him to Rachel’s cafe and we had coffee and all he would tell me is that he has a source. That’s it. How am I meant to be his partner if he doesn’t trust me!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Lance you’ve been working together a week, and in that week you have actually worked as a team for one day, don’t you think that there might be a bit of reasoning behind his mistrust?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I know,” he admitted, sulking into the couch. “I get it, I just wanted a Boyle to my Peralta you know?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“As opposed to…?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Lance shrugged, “I don’t know, Hunk. I just want to know how he does it, who the fuck could his source possibly be to know so specifically?” Lance’s brain hurt. “It doesn’t make sense.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______He sighed, “I don’t want to talk about it.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Hunk didn’t speak for a moment. “You don’t want to talk about it like the dance final or you don’t want to talk about it like Rolo.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Dance final,” Lance said sharply._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Okay,” Hunk restarted the game._ _ _ _ _ _

______It was one of the thousands of things Lance loved about Hunk, he knew when not to push._ _ _ _ _ _

______Right now Lance didn’t want to be pushed, he just wanted company._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Why aren’t you and Nyma going on your date night?” Hunk asked casually as he shot down two enemies with a precision that only came with years of practice._ _ _ _ _ _

______“We had a fight.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______That was a nice way of putting the screaming match Lance and Nyma had had that morning. He didn’t want to go into details with Hunk, knowing that despite his undying love for Lance, he had never liked Nyma and would love anything to hold over her. And honestly, Lance felt guilty about the fight. It wasn’t Nyma’s fault she couldn’t find a job that suited her, Lance wanted her to be as happy in her career as he was in his. She deserved that._ _ _ _ _ _

______“She came into the bar today with Rolo,” Hunk said in a way that to an acquaintance would sound nonchalant, but Lance could hear the slight rise in the way he said Rolo’s name, feel the shift in his position that Lance knew meant that he was not calm on the inside. The one good thing about Hunk’s dislike for Nyma is that it transferred to Rolo too. Fuck Rolo. “How close are those two?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Except when it gave him an excuse to ask seemingly innocent questions._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Hunk,” Lance warned. “They have been friends their entire lives, and Rolo is mated.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Hunk dropped the controller, as his character lost their last life, and turned to Lance. “I know you don’t like the question but I need to ask it. I’m just trying to—”_ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______“Hunk stop,” Lance abandoned the game in order to look his childhood friend in the eye. “Please, I know you are just trying to look out for me but she is my soulmate. I love her and she loves me and she is certainly not cheating on me with Rolo.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______~~~_ _ _ _ _ _

______It hadn’t taken long for Keith and Pidge to settle back into old habits. Scrolling through the conspiracy tag on netflix to catch up anything they hadn’t watched together in their time apart. Alcohol and a deep-seated mistrust of the government had always been their aesthetic, and it was an easy rhythm to fall back into. Keith was grateful for this, he’d honestly been dreading this evening, dreading the possibility of an awkward relationship with the person who meant so much to him._ _ _ _ _ _

______“And so I adjusted the algorithm to accommodate the communications factor and changed it so it’s colour coded because what are we, animals?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith laughed, Pidge shifting from where they were snuggled up against him. They chatted absentmindedly, Keith talking about clients he turned away, Pidge gushing about their upcoming work in robotics. An easy dynamic that came from being around each other through some of their darkest times._ _ _ _ _ _

______An episode on Nessie started up when Pidge bolted into an upright position. “No fucking way is that Ms Roberts?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith squinted at the screen as a short pudgy woman was interviewed.  
“No, it can’t be, she’s not that young.” _ _ _ _ _ _

______“This film came out in 1982,” Pidge argued._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Is she that old?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I hope so, she was such a bitch,” Pidge muttered. Keith snorted._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You’re just sour because she didn’t want you playing the double bass,” Keith teased._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Sizeist old cow,”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Not like you let it stop you.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Damn right I didn’t, I was the best double bass player there.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith snorted, “Something like that.” His smirk only widened as he felt Pidge’s glare on him._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Just because you are the reincarnation of Bach, hair and all, does not mean you get to go shitting on my skills.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith’s hand ghosted over his hair, “ _Hair and all?_ ” _ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______Pidge cackled, tugging at the loose strands. “Do you even still play the cello?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith slapped away their fingers, pushing them off the couch entirely when they tried to resist, earning a youtube worth shriek. Looking down on them smugly, Keith replied, “Yeah, but only when I’m at the centre.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Fair enough, grab me the remote would you, I don’t want to watch Ms Roberts find Nessie, she doesn’t deserve her.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith reached back for the remote, grabbing it right before he was pulled unceremoniously the the floor beside Pidge. His yell being only slightly less mortifying that theirs. Pidge doubled over with laughter, as he threw the remote at their head. They grinned as they switched back to Netflix, flicking through the tag._ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith had really missed this._ _ _ _ _ _

______Several hours and two orders of chinese food later, they were watching one of their favourites for the hundredth time. It one of those films that, no matter how many times you watch it, always turns up something knew. But Keith couldn’t concentrate, not while he was stuck on one comment Pidge had made about Lance. ‘ _God Lance would love this, he’s such a space nerd._ One comment bringing Keith back to the reality where his Pidge and his Lance were close friends. Close enough for Lance to show up unannounced at their apartment, close enough to have his own bookshelf. _ _ _ _ _ _

_______Lance_ was a constant in their lives, and if Keith wanted to be a part of Pidge's life again, and he really did, then he was going to have to accept that._ _ _ _ _ _

______But that didn’t mean he couldn't ask first._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Why are you friends with Lance anyway?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Pidge sighed against him. “Keith.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I know, I've accepted that he is a part of your life, but i can still ask why can't i?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Lance is a good guy Keith,” Pidge said firmly, their eyes boring into Keith’s, he could see their defenses growing like vines behind their eyes, caging in their stubborness. “He can be a lot, I know that better than anyone. But he's funny and passionate and he’s the soul of our group. We were roommates, and I admit it took me a while to get past that first impression. But honestly,” they looked at Keith sheepishly, “He reminded me of you a lot.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith’s nostrils flared as he snarled at them, “I am _nothing_ like Lance.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Competitive, doesn’t make a great first impression, hotheaded--”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“You realise you're listing negative traits right,” Keith mused._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Loyal, trustworthy, often has their own head up their ass.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Thanks.” Keith deadpanned, crossing his arms._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You guys are mirrors of each other,” Pidge elaborated, “In another reality you might have even been soulmates.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith let out a dry laugh, “Yeah, I find that hard to believe.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Pidge shrugged, knowing better than pushing that conversation if Keith didn’t want to._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Anyway,” Keith said, “isn’t there an alternate reality for every scenario?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Don’t try and out-theorise me you know what I meant.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Whatever, I’ve accepted that he’s your friend, I can accept that I’ll never understand why.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh fuck off Keith, get over yourself,” Pidge shoved off him so she could glare at him properly. “You should come to Wednesday drinks, get to know Lance a little better before you pass your almighty judgement.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith barked a laugh, “Are you kidding? Lance doesn’t want me there.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Not yet, but I do. And you owe me about a hundred favours for ditching me after I met Alec, so you’re coming.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Pidge,” Keith began._ _ _ _ _ _

______“No!” they cut in, “No arguments, you are coming, end of story.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Keith rolled his eyes and uttered a word he was certain he would regret._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Fine.”_ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you thought!   
> tumblr: @donttrusttheclogs


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh God, not you too,” Lance whined, unperturbed by Keith’s revelation, as though it wasn’t strange for people to just tell him random facts about themselves. “Pidge is enough cryptid for me.”
> 
> Keith tilted his head, narrowing his eyes at Lance, “You can never have enough cryptid!” he hissed, “That’s how they get you!”
> 
> “Ughhh.” Lance’s face hit the table with a thud and Keith had to fight the urge to smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! It's been _checks watch_ five weeks and I'd apologise but this chapter is just shy of 10k homesickness is a piece of unmotivating shit :D
> 
> Season 8 was.. an experience as I'm sure you all know, but that's not enough to get my klance spirit down and I am determined to finish this even if it kills me!
> 
> Shout out to my alpha reader Len (he refuses to be referred to as a beta), my beta reader Lucy, and my omega reader Alec (she may kill me for this, but I'm calling her that anyway) for keeping me going and promising to never let me write the first draft without dialogue tags again!

This was a mistake. Why the fuck Keith had even let Pidge guilt him into Wednesday night drinks in the first place was beyond him, but now as he sat on his bike in the freezing wind, staring at the stupid pearly white sign he _knew_ that this was a bad idea. If it had been anyone but Pidge… Keith glared down at his phone and the threatening texts from a few hours earlier.

**Chat: Gremlin.**  
16.12 [Gremlin.]  
_don't think I forgot_  
16.12 [Gremlin.]  
_you are coming tonight_  
16.12 [Gremlin.]  
_Keith I love you but I will text shiro_  
16.13 [Gremlin.]  
_dont test me_

The nickname in his phone had been changed by Pidge themself at around 3am, when they were both delirious from nostalgia and sleep deprivation and the Shortcake nickname and the story behind it had come up. Pidge had been disgraced that not only was their name just Pidge, but Keith had the audacity to put a ‘.’ behind it. So Pidge had stolen his phone and changed it to Gremlin, Keith took it back and added the ‘.’ again. 

He considered adding more than a full stop as he stared at the bar. Pidge wouldn’t let him live it down if he backed out now though, he had no doubt they’d text Shiro, and that alone was enough to make Keith walk through the wooden doors, letting the smell of fermenting alcohol overwhelm his senses as his eyes adjusted to the warm, dim lighting. It was busier than last time, the general chatter of patrons contrasting to the wind that had been howling outside.

At least the drinks were good, Coran had the old fashioned waiting for him beside a shot of tequila. Keith gestured violently to the glasses, “How the fuck do you do that?” he asked incredulously. 

Coran just smiled at him. “Start a tab?” 

Keith shook his head in disbelief and shrugged, “Sure, why not.” 

“Your friend is over in the centre booth,” Coran added as Keith took a sip of the drink, as good as it had been the last time. Keith glanced behind him to see the unmistakable back of Lance’s head.

And no one else. 

That was okay, Keith would just wait at the bar until Pidge arrived, it wasn’t as if Lance had spotted him yet. But then, of course, his phone buzzed in his hand. 

**Chat: Gremlin.**  
18.12 [Gremlin.]  
_im running late go sit with Lance._  
18.12 [Gremlin.]  
_right now_

He really hated Pidge sometimes.

Keith glanced cautiously at Lance only to catch the other boy staring back at him, his own phone lit in his hand. Keith wondered if Lance was getting the same shove that Keith was. Lance waved, his mouth turned downwards on one side and eyelids droopy with defeat, he didn’t even bother to lift his elbow off the table. This was going to be fun. 

“Hey man,” Lance said as Keith approached the booth, as slowly as could be considered natural. “Pidge mentioned you would be coming.” 

Keith smirked a little, such consideration did not sound like the Pidge Keith knew. “When?”

Lance gave him a knowing smile. “Ten minutes ago, they’re fun like that.”

Keith chuckled and took a seat, “You should’ve seen them as a teenager, they terrorised the neighbourhood.” 

Lance shuddered. “I can imagine.” 

Keith huffed a laugh, thinking of the time Pidge hid a walkie-talkie in the spare room of their spiritual neighbour's house after they insisted on calling them by the wrong name. They convinced the old hag that there was a ghost of the lost sea fairy Salsara living in her house, but also that she would be going to fairy hell if she didn’t stop using Pidge’s old name. They’d kept it up for years, the walkie-talkie not being found until over a year after both Keith and Pidge had moved out of the neighbourhood.

Keith opened his mouth to recount the story but his throat closed around the words beneath the stare of Lance’s accented blue eyes; the black liner surrounding them was more prominent than usual today. Honestly, it should be illegal for taken boys to have such lovely eyes. _Please stop referring to Lance as taken, his relationship status doesn’t matter, you are not interested in him._ He did have beautiful eyes. Shame they shared space with his personality. Keith tore his gaze from Lance and stared instead at the ceiling, at the elaborate painting about him.

“It’s so cool, right?” Lance said, also looking at the ceiling art. 

“I guess,” Keith mumbled, not really understanding it, not that Keith ever really got art in the way you were supposed to. 

“Do you know the legend behind it?” Lance asked, his eyes sparkling. It piqued Keith’s interest more than he wanted to admit. 

“No?” Keith replied casually.

“Well,” Lance began, grinning widely, “according to Coran, who admittedly isn’t the best source, there was this legend around where he grew up called Voltron. Five heroes would fly mechanical robot lions that would their way into a giant robot and save the world.”

Keith snorted. “That’s ridiculous and I’m a cryptid.” Keith blinked owlishly at how easily that detail about himself had just slipped off his tongue. 

“Oh God, not you too,” Lance whined, unperturbed by Keith’s revelation, as though it wasn’t strange for people to just tell him random facts about themselves. “Pidge is enough cryptid for me.”

Keith tilted his head, narrowing his eyes at Lance, “You can never have enough cryptid!” he hissed, “That’s how they get you!”

“Ughhh.” Lance’s face hit the table with a thud and Keith had to fight the urge to smile.

“The government is plotting against us, Lance,” Keith was teasing now. Well, he was half-teasing, with a few sparing glances around the room, looking for cameras.

“Perhaps…” Lance said doubtfully, “Though Nyma was telling me the other day about how she thought the post office was conspiring against her. She—” 

It was honestly shameful how quickly Keith tuned out of the conversation as soon as it turned to Lance’s soulmate. He stared blankly, taking apart and putting back together his bike in his mind, that is until Lance clicked his fingers in front of his face, sharply bringing him back to reality.

“Man, are you even listening?”

“Yeah, of course, that sucks,” Keith guessed, years of not listening to people talk had taught him that that was usually the best bet in fake responses.

“Okay, seriously, what the fuck is your problem?” Lance exclaimed, bringing his hand down on the table, hard. Apparently it was not the correct response today.

“What?” Keith feigned innocent, unflinching under Lance’s cool stare. The room around them had quietened some, a hushed whisper circling the scene. 

“What is wrong with you, huh? Just the mention of my soulmate seems to turn you off!” Lance yelled, spit flying from his mouth; Keith cringed, holding his arms up as a shield.“If you _hate_ soulmates so much why are you a detective? And if you don’t hate them why wear those gloves? Seriously Keith what’s with the gloves? What’s so wrong with your soul that you are ashamed of its mate?”

Keith’s hands shook against the table, closing into fists as Lance’s words sunk in deep. What’s wrong with you? Soulless. Broken. Shameful. What’s wrong with you?

“Fuck you, Lance,” he bit out before pushing himself to his feet, forcing them to go one after the other, step by step until he was at the door, passing Pidge who was yelling his name, out the door, on his bike. He just needed to get out, to go anywhere but here. But with every step, every rev of his motorbike, the word repeated in his head, in the voices of all the people he’d known. _Soulless_ , they chanted. _Soulless. Soulless. Soulless._

~~~

Lance was in shock. Keith had just left, he’d run from the fight. It went against everything Lance had learned about him. It was bizarre. One moment Lance was sure Keith was about to hit him, to start the brawl Lance had honestly been itching for, and the next he was gone. 

Pidge, having witnessed the final moments, had run after Keith, but it would seem their chase was in vain because they had come rushing back into the bar. Pidge came at him at full speed, shoving into Lance’s shoulder hard enough that he was pushed back into his seat.

“What did you do, Lance?” they hissed, eyeing him down. Pidge was a lot of things, and intimidating was certainly one of them, but Lance wasn’t in that sort of headspace; he was ready to face the reaction his anger-fueled words had caused.

“I did nothing!” Lance shot right back. “How the fuck am I supposed to know what’s wrong with him if no one will tell me what his problem with soulmates is in the first place?!” Lance crossed his arms, jutting his chin out in a pout that he knew would not break Pidge’s resolve but still made him feel like he was defending his.

Pidge looked at him, their bottom lip tucked between their teeth. A sideline glance to the door and back had them balling their fists by their sides. “Lance, you don’t understand.”

“Then fuck, make me understand! I’m sick of all this rom-com miscommunication bullshit. Just tell me what’s going on!”

Their lips formed a thin line. “Keith’s soulmate is dead,” they said shortly, swiftly choking the air out of Lance’s anger. “I hope you’re satisfied.”

_Oh fuck._

~~~

Keith called Shiro from the cabin. He called him because that was their deal—Shiro would give him space, let him sort through his emotions, help him in any way he could—as long as Keith let him know where he was. 

The cabin was in the middle of nowhere, twenty minutes race off-road bushland surrounding him it was the perfect location to get away. To hide. Hide from Lance, from the way he’d said it. _What’s wrong with you?_

_He hid behind the doorway, child-sized hands gripping at the handle. He shouldn’t be there. They would catch him._

_“Where is that soulless midget?”_

_Griffin would find him; he always did. He finds him and tears the gloves away, makes sure that the entire home knows that he wasn’t a real orphan, that he was just Soulless._

_The door jutted, sending him flying. The pain shooting up his arm was nothing to the anguish pooling in his gut as Griffin stared down at him. Keith clenched his fists, even though he knew it wouldn’t help. It had never stopped him before. It was the same every time there was a new kid at the home. Griffin had to make sure that they knew about Keith, knew to stay away, knew not to even talk to the Soulless._

_He didn’t have the upper hand, he was outnumbered in more ways than one, their guardians would never choose his side over the perfect James Griffin. It was hopeless. He still fought back when they grabbed him, even got a hit in against his tormentor, but it wasn’t enough; it was never enough. They forced his hand open, chanting the slur until it became his name, his identity. Soulless. That’s all he was and all he would ever be._

_Soulless._

_Soulless._

_Soulless._

_~~~_

Lance was not ready to come face to face with Keith again. He’d prepared his speech and brought along a coffee for him because that was their thing so Lance was physically prepared, he supposed... mentally however was a completely different story. He was racked with guilt, he’d barely slept the night before with Pidge’s words echoing through his mind and nightmares. _Keith’s soulmate is dead._ Lance got to work early despite his reluctance to see him; he was desperate to make things right with Keith. He’d been such an idiot, talking about Nyma constantly. _You didn’t know,_ the Hunk in his head argues. _Doesn’t make what you said okay_ , Pidge’s voice hissed back 

It didn’t end up mattering, as the clock ticked past 8am, 9am, 10am and Lance had left for a staff meeting, Keith’s cold coffee tipped down the sink when it became clear he wasn’t coming. Lance barely heard a word that Allura was saying in the meeting. _Keith’s soulmate is dead. I hope you’re satisfied._

He approached Allura as the rest of the soulmates detectives filed out. Allura wasn’t the best at hiding her emotions, she was better than Lance, but her tells were still fairly obvious. 

“Can I help you with something, Lance?” she asked, cocking her head to the side, her expression was carefully closed off. 

Lance rubbed the back of his neck, “I—uh…” he sighed, “I was wondering if there was a reason Keith didn’t come in today? I tried messaging him but he didn't respond.” 

“Oh, yes,” she gave him a tight smile, “he called in sick, stomach bug. I told him to take the rest of the week off and see how he feels after the weekend.” 

Whenever Allura lied, she clasped her hands in front of her body. 

Allura was lying. Lance didn't know what part was a lie, or how much she actually knew of what had happened. But there was no doubting the way her thumbs circled each other and as she looked him in the eyes, Lance saw the challenge in her gaze, daring him to try and argue. 

When he didn't respond, Allura continued, “Romelle won't be sending up any potential clients to you today as I have noticed that you are rather behind on your paperwork, you and Keith have gone through quite a few clients the last few days, I'm happy you are finally getting along.” 

Lance didn't know how to respond; if Allura didn't know that the cause behind Keith's absence was Lance, then what was she lying about? 

So Lance just nodded and walked back to his office. 

Lance had never been good at working alone, he wasn’t suited to the quiet environment. He just couldn’t concentrate without someone there with him to keep him in check with their presence. Even before he’d gotten paired with Keith he’d always requested to work in a people filled environment, opting for a cubicle over an office because at least in a cubicle he would get shit done. 

So it was safe to say that Lance got absolutely nothing done that day, instead, he watched Keith’s chair from across the room as though he would miraculously appear in it if he stared hard enough. And then to help matters Nyma wasn’t even home that night, out with Rolo _, as usual,_ and so Lance couldn’t even work at home while he listened to her talk about her day. 

The next day didn’t start much better, despite Allura’s information Lance brought in another cup of coffee just in case, and watched as another cup of coffee went cold. He did pick up a client though there was very little progress in her case, it was frustrating how quickly Lance had gotten used to Keith’s way of finding soulmates. 

He ended up inviting Nyma out to have lunch with him at the overpriced sushi restaurant across the street that she constantly hinted she wanted to go back to. He didn’t really like spending so much money on something that they could get for a quarter of the price to a similar taste but who was he to deny his soulmate when she came all the way out to meet him? 

It also gave him some time to actually bitch about the whole situation. 

“Did you call him?” she asks after a bite of her $19 sushi. 

___“Straight to voicemail, he won’t answer any of my texts either. Allura said he’s sick but she was definitely lying about something,” Lance sighed, fiddling with his chopsticks._ _ _

___“Then to me, he sounds like kind of an ass,” she replied, she was always quick to back him up, even if this was a little repetitive after everything he’d already told her about Keith. After everything he’d told her he’d said._ _ _

___“But I was the ass, the things I said to him Ny, they aren’t that forgivable,” Lance explain drearily._ _ _

___“Honey, you didn’t know, how could you have known?” Lance smiled at the pet name, he honestly couldn’t remember the last time Nyma called him by his name._ _ _

___“I know, I know, I just want to apologise but the asshole won’t come into work,” Lance whined, pouting over his ginger._ _ _

___“Then go to him.” Nyma stated, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world_ _ _

___“What? How?”_ _ _

___“You said Pidge was close with him right? Maybe they know where he disappeared to?” Nyma suggested. Which wasn’t actually a bad idea.. but..._ _ _

___“I don’t know if Pidge is really talking to me right now. They weren’t too happy at the bar.”_ _ _

___“Babe.” Nyma said shortly, “Go talk to them. Tonight. Get this off your chest, then at least you’ll know the truth.”_ _ _

___Lance smiled warmly at her, joining their hands across the table. God was she beautiful, “Why do you get to be right all the time, huh? Leave some for the rest of us.”_ _ _

___She cocked her head, one side of her mouth quirking up, “Now where’s the fun in that?”_ _ _

___~~~_ _ _

___Pidge was not happy to see him._ _ _

___“What do you want Lance?” they growled, blocking the doorway._ _ _

___“I want to apologise to Keith.” Lance raised his hands in surrender, to try and show Pidge that he really didn’t want another fight. Pidge sighed, their grip on the door relaxing as she let him in the apartment._ _ _

___“Go on.”_ _ _

___“I pushed too far,” Lance said, fidgeting with his fingers, forcing himself to maintain eye contact, “what I said was wrong even before I knew, and I need to tell him that, but I can’t get in contact with him. Do you know where he is?”_ _ _

___“Yes, but I’m not telling you.”_ _ _

___Lance scoffed.“Are you seriously going to be childish about this?”_ _ _

___Angry Pidge was making a comeback. They scowled up at him with narrowed eyes._ _ _

___“Funnily enough Lance, I think I know Keith and what he needs, a little better than you do. _I_ haven’t even spoken to him, if you go barging up there you will only drive a wedge even further between you.”_ _ _

___“This is ridiculous! I just want to apologise to him!” Why was that so hard for Pidge to comprehend? “I hate everything I said about him and his soulmate and I—”_ _ _

___“Oh my god you aren’t even doing this for Keith, are you?” Pidge spat, looking him up and down in disgust, “You are doing this to alleviate your own damn guilt. Shit doesn’t work that way, Lance. I am not going to make things worse for him because your conscience has finally caught up to you.”_ _ _

___“No Pidge, I—”_ _ _

___“Just stop!” Pidge ran their fingers through her hair, pulling at the ends and Lance knew he’d reached the end of her patience. “Keith is a very private person and sometimes he just needs space. Him and Shiro have a good system in place for these sorts of things and all you need to do is back off and wait for him to come back on his own.”_ _ _

___Lance let their words sink in. Why was he here? _Because the guilt that Keith could be hurting because of you has been eating away at you for the last three days.__ _ _

___Fucking hell, he really was a dick._ _ _

___Pidge sighed and Lance looked back up at them, their expression softer than it had been moments before. They walked to the bench and grabbed a pen and paper scribbling something on it before handing it to Lance._ _ _

___“I have to go mentor a robotics course, but if you are really worried about him, call that number. It’s Shiro, he will let you know how Keith is doing. But please Lance,” she held fast as he tried to take the slip of paper, “sleep on it. don’t call if your intentions aren’t in the right place.”_ _ _

___Lance nodded, and she let god of the paper. As Lance pocketed it, he offered to give Pidge a lift to work and was rewarded with a crushing hug. Some things never changed._ _ _

___~~_ _ _

___It took Lance two attempts to correctly enter the number Pidge gave him with his shaking fingers, after a surprisingly long talk with a; it rang four times before someone picked up._ _ _

___“Hello, Takashi Shirogane’s phone.”_ _ _

___“Hi, is this Shiro?”_ _ _

___“No sorry, this is his soulmate, Adam, he’s working right now can I take a message?” There was running water in the background, the clinking of plates as Adam spoke._ _ _

___“Oh uh... Yeah, I guess. This is Lance, I work with Keith, I just wanted to know how he was doing.” There was a loud crashing noise through the receiver that made Lance jump._ _ _

___“Lance as in Lance McClain?” Adam spluttered._ _ _

___“Y-yes?”_ _ _

___Adam was silent for so long that, if it hadn’t been for the running water, Lance would have thought he’d been cut off._ _ _

___“Hello?” Lance said again tentatively._ _ _

___“One moment,” the line was muffled for a moment with footsteps. Lance heard Adam “Takashi, Lance McClain is on the phone for you.”_ _ _

___More jostling noises came through the receiver before another smooth voice filled Lance’s ear._ _ _

___“Hello, Lance? This is Shiro, how did you get this number?”_ _ _

___“Hi…uh Pidge gave it to me,” Lance replied nervously._ _ _

___“Alright, what can I do for you?”_ _ _

___Lance took a deep breath._ _ _

___“Well…”_ _ _

___~~~_ _ _

___Shiro would be here any minute, and Keith wasn’t ready. He’d barely managed to force himself into the shower when he woke up, and he knew that his hair resembled a rats nest. Keith shrugged at his reflection, it was as good as it was going to get, at the sound of the knock at the door. It wasn’t as if Shiro hadn’t seen him in worse conditions than this. The rain outside the_ _ _

___Shiro looked him over as Keith let him in and let out a fake gasp. “Oh my goodness did you _shower_? Adam is going to be so proud!” Shiro teased, pulling Keith into a hug._ _ _

___“Yeah yeah, very funny,” Keith muttered, rolling his eyes, the smell of Thai food, wafting from the takeaway bag Shiro held, made his mouth water. Shiro plopped down on the couch and started setting the various dishes on the coffee table._ _ _

___“What are we watching tonight?” the older man asked absentmindedly, popping open the lids as Keith returned with plastic plates and cutlery._ _ _

___This was their routine, Shiro would give Keith forty-eight to sixty hours of cool off time with short visits for meals or chats on the phone before he put on his work cap and went from Keith’s best friend, to his older brother and mentor and tried to get to the bottom of the attack. It was coming, it had been more than two days since Keith had run, today was Shiro’s day and they both knew they were just delaying the inevitable. And yet, Shiro still insisted on the small talk._ _ _

___“Just get to the point Shiro,” Keith said, sitting down on the couch, curling his legs beneath him and pulling a pillow across his lap._ _ _

___The older man sighed, running his fingers through his short black hair._ _ _

___“Why don’t you tell me what happened.”_ _ _

___Faced with the question, Keith instantly regretted not drawing out the small talk._ _ _

___“What do you already know?” he buffered, lifting his knees up to his chest on the couch, a wall between Shiro and himself._ _ _

___“I know that something happened between you and Lance,” Shiro replied patiently. Keith waited for him to continue, frowning at Shiro when he didn’t._ _ _

___“Pidge didn’t tell you anything else?” Keith asked, surprised. His frown deepened as shame swelled in him at his surprise, Pidge had never given him up before, why would they start now?_ _ _

___“Pidge told me that it would be better heard from you.”_ _ _

___Why the fuck had he ever let them go._ _ _

___“Lance asked me what was so wrong with my soul that I had to cover my marks.”_ _ _

___“Oh Keith, no…”_ _ _

___“I know, I know!” Keith interrupted. He knew exactly what bullshit Shiro was about to say; it was the same thing he’d been telling Keith for years._ _ _

___“Then show me that you know,” Shiro replied, leaning forward slightly, his prosthetic hand resting on the couch near Keith’s feet, not touching, but there if Keith wanted it. “Because right now, you sound like you believe what he said.”_ _ _

___Keith didn’t bother answering, Shiro would see through any lie he told._ _ _

___“Keith you are not—”_ _ _

___“Soulless?” Keith interrupted sharply. “What other explanation is there Shiro? Insults hurt the most when they’re true, after all.”_ _ _

___“Keith, you have a soul,” Shiro said, calm and low, no room for disagreement. That tone might have worked on someone else, but Keith was well past that._ _ _

___“How could you possibly know that?” Keith muttered, his voice rising with every word. “How could you even _begin_ to understand what _this_ ,” Keith waved his gloveless palms at Shiro, the only person he felt comfortable not wearing them around, “is like?” _ _ _

___“You’re right I don’t.” Shiro’s voice didn’t even _waver_. Keith hated it. Why the fuck did Shiro get to stay calm when Keith’s life was so overwhelming. He wanted Shiro to be mad, to yell, to tear him apart so he could see the broken pieces beneath. But that wasn’t Shiro. “But that doesn’t make those people who would call you that right. You are a person Keith, and you deserve to be treated as one.”_ _ _

___“Tell Lance that,” Keith muttered, his hands disappearing under the pillow, fiddling with the frayed edges of his shirt._ _ _

___“I did,” Keith jerked at Shiro’s comment, the pillow falling from his lap at the movement. “When he called me asking if you were okay.”_ _ _

___“When he what?!”_ _ _

___“Yesterday, a distressed coworker of yours named Lance McClain called me, asking if you were alright because apparently Allura crossed her hands? I’m not sure. He was talking very quickly.”_ _ _

___“Allura holds her hands in front of her when she lies,” Keith murmured, he didn’t realise anyone else had picked up on it. Lance had gone to the trouble of contacting Shiro to find out if he was alright? Why would he do that, less that three days ago he had been yelling at Keith and now he was concerned?_ _ _

___“Keith, he was wrong in every sense of the word,” Shiro began, “but from what I could tell, he is genuinely sorry for what he said. And you know he wasn’t saying it in the way you heard it.”_ _ _

___“You’re making me go back to work,” Keith said, fiddling with the seam of his shirt ._ _ _

___“Allura expects you in her office Tuesday morning, but I would prefer you to go in on Monday.” Keith stared down at his hands, wishing he hadn’t left his gloves in the other room. Usually he felt okay around Shiro, but after that outburst, Keith just wanted to hide. “However, if you don’t feel up to it, Adam and I have the day off so we can have a games tournament.”_ _ _

___Either way he couldn’t hide here anymore, that was the choice Shiro was giving him, and Keith knew that there was no point in arguing. So he looked Shiro in the eye and nodded._ _ _

___“Good,” Shiro said, he clasped his hands together. “Now, what are we watching._ _ _

___“‘Inside the Criminal Mind,’” Keith replied with a small smirk._ _ _

___Shiro sighed, “Please tell me, not the Jack the Ripper episode.”_ _ _

___“Obviously, the Jack the Ripper episode.”_ _ _

___Keith smirk widened into a grin as Shiro groaned loudly._ _ _

___“I know you only picked this because I can’t eat through them and you want more of the food,” he accused, sneering at Keith’s shit-eating grin._ _ _

___“Yeah, what of it?” Keith replied, pulling the box of fish cakes onto his lap and plopping one into his mouth._ _ _

___“Nothing at all, tree lover.” Keith choked on his food. Oh now he had to come home, if only to murder Adam. Shiro just laughed as Keith expressed this in angry gestures and choked words._ _ _

___“Plant trees not war!” Shiro called as he ducked a flying, fish cake courtesy of a still heaving Keith._ _ _

___“That doesn’t even make sense!” Keith yelled hoarsely, though he was laughing too._ _ _

___Shiro snorted, “You once stepped on a flower because it was ‘looking at you funny’, and you’re telling me I don’t make sense Poison Ivy?”_ _ _

___“Are you insinuating that calling me a fantastic supervillain is an insult?”_ _ _

___Shiro snorted, “You would be a terrible villain.”_ _ _

___“I’d be a better villain than you, at least I know how to lie.”_ _ _

___“I can lie!” Shiro protested._ _ _

___“Sure you can Pinocchio.”_ _ _

___“Oh shut up, Tree Hugger.”_ _ _

___“Space gramps.”_ _ _

___“Cello killer!”_ _ _

___“You realise you are just recycling all of Adam’s nicknames?”_ _ _

___Shiro crossed his arms, shrugging, “He’s my soulmate he won’t care.”_ _ _

___“Are you kidding?” Adam took great pride in his nicknames, why Keith never understood, but he was sure that Adam would at least pretend to care greatly that Shiro was using them so flippantly._ _ _

___“Speaking of,” Shiro’s gaze turned deadly, “how’s your dating life going?”_ _ _

___For the second time that night Keith choked, this time on his own saliva, heaving forward and coughing up a lung he narrowed his eyes at Shiro. “How the fuck is that a 'speaking of'?”_ _ _

___Shiro shrugged again, giving a flushed Keith his best shit-eating grin. “It’s not, I just enjoy the look on your face when I bring it up.”_ _ _

___“First off,” Keith held one finger up, before directing it straight at Shiro as he continued, “Asshole. And secondly; my dating life is the same as ever, occasional hook ups and nothing more than that.”_ _ _

___Shiro rolled his eyes.“You should get out more, try actually dating.”_ _ _

___Keith let out a dry laugh. “For what? To get my heart broken every time someone sees me without gloves on?” Keith pulled himself up from the couch to grab said gloves from the counter. “For more reactions like Lance’s? No thanks.”_ _ _

___Shiro sighed through his nose, his lips pursed as he looked up at Keith. “Lance didn’t react to your marks Keith.”_ _ _

___“Yeah? And how would you know?” Keith argued, crossing his arms across his chest._ _ _

___“Because that phone call he made would have been a lot different if that was what he had been reacting to.”_ _ _

___Keith didn’t respond. Shiro just always had to be right._ _ _

___Shiro furrowed his eyebrows, straightening on the couch, as Keith slumped back into it, half hiding behind the knees that he had pulled up to his chest. Keith could practically see the inner dialogue whirring through Shiro’s mind. Shiro’s head bobbed and Keith knew whatever deliberations he had been making were resolved._ _ _

___“Have you considered just telling him, Keith?”_ _ _

___Keith’s eyes blew open as he stared at Shiro in utter disbelief. Out of all the things to say, Shiro should know the better than to ask that, “What the fuck Shiro, no.”_ _ _

___“I know it’s soon,” Shiro held up his hands in placation, speaking slowly, as though Keith were a spooked animal, “and he’s obviously just as hotheaded as you are,” Shiro’s hands dropped, and Keith looked away when Shiro’s face started to droop, Keith didn’t want to see Shiro’s look of pity, or for Shiro to see the scowl Keith was giving in return. Shiro sighed again. “How long do you think you can keep making up lies as you go? I know it’s not as simple as I’m making it sound, but coming out on your own terms is surely preferable than getting caught in a lie.”_ _ _

___“Shiro, I can’t…” Keith said, burying himself further into his arms, he could feel his eyelashes brushing against his skin as he blinked back tears that threatened to fall. He hated it, how his body reacted to even just the thought of telling someone. The way it jumped and suddenly Keith was a child again, boys bigger than him crowding around to look at the soulless freak. “I just.. I can’t. You weren’t there. You don’t understand.” Keith felt numb, avoiding Shiro’s gaze, avoiding the way it would change when he saw Keith’s reaction. As kind and sympathetic Shiro was, as much as he tried, and he did try. Shiro would never truly understand what it was like to be afraid of being who you are._ _ _

___“Okay,” Shiro replied simply, and he didn’t push the topic any further, instead leaning forward to switch on the film._ _ _

___Keith barely knew Lance. Small glimpses of a decent person wasn’t enough to cancel out what he’d said, what he’d meant, the implications behind his words. Even if Shiro was right, even if Lance was genuinely sorry. It was still too much of a risk. If Lance found out and told everyone… Keith couldn’t do it. He couldn’t live with the stares, the whispers, not again. He just couldn’t._ _ _

___~~~_ _ _

___Keith ended up going back to work on the Tuesday, taking Shiro up on his offer for a family games day. Keith even invited Pidge, which, in hindsight, was a grievous mistake on Keith’s part, as he had forgotten how ruthlessly they and Adam plotted to crush Shiro and Keith into the dirt. Keith won an embarrassing three games the whole day, only beating Shiro’s results by one. Pidge may have won 14 games, including every game of UNO they played bar one, but it was Adam who took home the title of House Champion as well as the $5 bottle of wine that he refused to share with the rest of them. Though he quickly regretted it when Shiro brought out the expensive whiskey and denied him a glass, telling him to “no it’s fine, you enjoy your winnings, we can drink this without you”._ _ _

___It was funny until it took a pathetic two kisses for Adam to distract Shiro enough to snatch the bottle out of his hand._ _ _

___Now, Keith sat in Allura’s office, half-listening to her recount what she had told Lance about his disappearance, and what he’d missed in the staff meeting. Keith’s mind, however, was elsewhere, stuck in the office below their feet, focussed on the brunette he would soon have to face. Work was the best place for this confrontation, in public with the added pressure to be civil for the sake of their careers, but still, the last thing Keith had said to him was ‘fuck you’. Despite Shiro and Pidge’s insistence that Lance regretted what he said… well… In Keith’s experience people were, more often than not, the most honest when they were angry._ _ _

___The meeting with Allura went far too quickly. Keith tried his best to make his descent into social hell as slow as possible. He didn’t like this, he didn’t want the aftermath, the confrontation, he wanted to change his name and move to Australia. Keith heard that they are more accepting down there. Also they have those weird hats that keep bugs out of your eyes and also stop strangers from making eye contact so that’s a bonus._ _ _

___The door to their office was closed, a casual sign from their telepathic Alien overlord that he should _not_ go in that room._ _ _

___But if he didn’t, he’d have to face Shiro and Allura instead. He didn’t stand a chance against Allura’s piercing stare combined with Shiro’s disappointed eyes._ _ _

___Ugh._ _ _

___Keith walked into the office in what he hoped was a normal manner. It didn’t end up mattering because Lance was so engrossed in his work, royal blue earbuds stuck in his ears, that he didn’t even notice Keith had entered the room. Keith wondered if he could just take a seat and they would pretend like nothing had happened at all and just get back to their lives._ _ _

___So he did. He sat down, and opened his file. Lance still didn’t say anything. So Keith assumed that for once he and Lance were on the same page. It was ten minutes before Keith realised he was wrong, when he dropped his pen on the floor and bent down to pick it up, there was a shriek and a loud crash. Keith jerked his head up to see Lance's chair overturned, Lance sitting on the floor, clutching his chest as he heaved._ _ _

___“Holy hell, Keith how long have you been here?” he exclaimed, after a moment._ _ _

___“Uh… ten minutes?” Keith guessed, grimacing at Lance. Apparently he and Lance were _not_ on the same page._ _ _

___“And you didn’t think to say hello?” Lance laughed, shaking his head, “Jesus Christ, man, you scared the living shit out of me.”_ _ _

___“Sorry?” Keith was stunned. This trainwreck was their first interaction after all that had happened between them, Lance laughing on the floor?_ _ _

___Lance seemed to realise that too and, sobering up from his giggles, jumped shakily to his feet. “I uh… I bought you coffee…” Lance grabbed a coffee cup from the side of his desk and frowned, “it’s probably cold now, sorry, I bought it this morning and it was hot at 7.30 but you didn’t get here then obviously and—”_ _ _

___“You bought me coffee?” Keith interrupted, staring at the coffee cup nestled in Lance’s fiddling fingers, wondering what the chances were that this was an elaborate plan to poison him._ _ _

___“Yeah.” Lance bit his lip, holding it out to him._ _ _

___“How did you know I was coming in today?”_ _ _

___“I didn’t?” Lance rubbed the back of his neck, ducking his line of sight, “I’ve kind of been bringing coffee in everyday?”_ _ _

___“You... you... But why?”_ _ _

___“Because I’m sorry! And I cause, I don’t know,” Lance shrugged using his whole body, he looked like the damn kaomoji, “coffee is kind of our thing at this point,” his voice dropped to a dry mutter, “two weeks and we already have an apology thing, but still.” Lance straightened, nodding to himself he looked Keith in the eye, his jaw set. “Keith, I’m really sorry for what I said. I was angry and frustrated but it wasn’t fair. You’ve got every right to have secrets and we’ve known each other so short a time, though I admit it feels a lot longer than that like I’ve known you months? I don’t know why but it does and so yeah I’m really sorry and—”_ _ _

___“Lance!” Keith cut him off with raised hands on his shoulders before the other man fainted from lack of breath. “I forgive you. I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have run.”_ _ _

___Lance frowned, his eyebrows furrowed, “You’re sorry? Damn Keith, I was an asshole and you’re apologising for reacting? That’s not right.”_ _ _

___Keith blinked, fiddling with the fraying edges of the finger holes in his gloves. If Keith was reading his words correctly, Lance was implying that he shouldn’t apologise. Even though he ran. He ran away from Lance and that was wrong no matter what was said between them. Right? Ugh. Keith just wanted to move past this, he needed to if they were ever going to be able to work as a team._ _ _

____Have you considered telling him?_ _ _ _

___Before this moment, never. Keith had not once thought about just coming clean, but right now, watching those two intensely blue eyes watch him with such genuine concern, Keith felt himself relax in a way he had never done with someone whom he knew so little of._ _ _

___That’s when the realisation hit him. He wanted to get to know Lance. _I want to know him._ Keith was finally seeing that part of Lance that Pidge talked about. The part that brought soy coffees to work everyday because he remembered that’s how Keith took them, who went to the trouble of finding Shiro’s number in order to check up on him, and sure that could’ve been guilt, but it still warmed something in Keith._ _ _

___Then, right on schedule, Griffin’s voice filled his ears. _Soulless_. That slur always came in his voice. The first person he’d trusted enough to tell himself, despite the governess’s warnings. James had been closest friend. It had been a mistake he still paid for. The whole school knew before the weeks end and it only got worse when Griffin joined him in the home. _ _ _

____God what are you thinking, you can’t tell Lance the truth. He already thinks you’re a freak, why stoke that fire?_ _ _ _

___So Keith gave Lance a waning smile. “Okay,” he said, “Are you working on anything new?”_ _ _

___Keith noticed the way Lance’s eyes widened slightly, the twitch in the side of his lips, the way his hands came up in an excited wave. Keith noticed how the gestures didn’t bother him as much as they had. That the lift in Lance’s hands somehow raised his own spirit, as though he was giving Keith a taste of his excitement. That is until Lance brought over a small stack of photos._ _ _

___“I’ve been struggling so much with these, they’re nonsensical to me but maybe you can spot something I missed like, you know, every other time.” Lance gave him a wide smile as he handed the photos over. Keith’s heart hammered in his chest. Lance was expecting a miracle solve, like he’d done every other time: Using his contact. This wasn’t_ _ _

___Maybe Lance _was_ better at their job than he was._ _ _

___The marks were a mess of wolves and teeth and dark strokes, in fact there was barely any of the woman’s golden skin coming through the marks at all._ _ _

___Keith didn’t know what to do with it._ _ _

___He couldn’t solve this without touching the marks, photos were useless to him. But how the fuck was he meant to explain that to Lance?_ _ _

___Lance, who was looking at him so expectantly. Once again, Keith considered just running. It was warm in Australia. That sounded nice._ _ _

___Instead, Keith frowned, scrunching up his nose for added effect, _Keith, no, you look like a fucking idiot too much that’s too much,_ Keith ran his hands over his face to try and hide his, if he kept this up a toddler would be able to see through his charade. _ _ _

___“So...” Lance prompted, “Can you contact your source? Get us a lead?”_ _ _

___“Yeah, maybe,” Keith replied noncommittally, “he—they have been busy lately, they may not be able to get back to us quickly.”_ _ _

___Lance frowned, and Keith watched fearfully as he processed the information, or the lack of it. He watched Lance’s line of sight drop to the floor for a second, then dart back up to Keith, resolve shining in them. He nodded, “Okay.”_ _ _

___Keith was a little surprised. Lance hadn’t questioned him at all, hadn’t demanded to know more, or to talk to his source himself. Instead, Lance had just accepted it. _He’s respecting your boundaries,_ a voice in his head, that sounded suspiciously like a smug Pidge, said. _ _ _

___~~~_ _ _

___The client was meeting them at a small cafe by Harrison St. They had set the meeting place and the time and were late, which was _entirely_ Lance’s fault. He’d asked her to meet them at a time that was literally impossible for them to reach in time in traffic. Keith had sent copies of the photo from his private email to his personal one to get Lance off his back about contact his ‘source’._ _ _

___Keith followed Lance from the carpark over to an outside table, where a plump woman in her early 20s sat across from them, bright purple hair contrasting brilliantly against her dark complexion, she wore sunglasses that covered half her face and lots of bright clashing colours._ _ _

___“Penelope, hi,” Lance said shaking the woman’s hand, “Thank you for meeting us.” Lance stood to the side to gesture to Keith. “This is my partner Keith, he wanted to see your marks in person since he missed our meeting last week._ _ _

___Penelope smiled at Keith, who did his best to smile pleasantly back, though going by the eyes rolling to the top of Lance’s head he hadn’t done the best job. What the fuck did that matter anyway? He was going to find this lady’s soulmate._ _ _

___Keith's fingers hovered over the rough, slightly sweaty palm. The marks were as much of a mess in real life as they were in the photos, . With a weary glance around them, Keith didn't like doing this in public, he touched her palm. His grip tightened._ _ _

___A scream. amber eyes. Pain rupturing through his side. An eternity of darkness._ _ _

___Keith felt his knees hit the ground, a moment after light returned, the memory of pain lingered. Keith didn't need to look at the woman's soulmarks to know what it meant, he didn't need to see the burnt and blackened line that should be brightly lit with colour, to understand._ _ _

___He didn't need anything to know that the woman's soulmate was dead._ _ _

___“Keith?” A voice cut through the static. “Keith are you okay!” Lance. That was Lance. “Keith, come in, talk to me.”_ _ _

___Keith groaned and opened his eyes to see squatting in front of him, this was not ideal. This was far from ideal. How the hell was he supposed to explain this? Would Lance believe his source got him this sort of information? How else was he going to do it? Keith forced himself to look at the direction that burnt line was leading, it was going towards Forthas cemetery, before dropping the client’s hand. He reached forward and grabbed Lance’s shoulder, using it as a support to get back on his feet. Fucking hell, at the rate Lance was picking clients, he was never going to be able to take a day off again._ _ _

___“Yeah, I just... Give me a second.” He pushed Lance away and pulled out his phone, his fingers trembling as he found the right contact._ _ _

___“Keith?” Shiro’s voice answered. “What’s up?”_ _ _

___“They’re dead,” Keith’s voice came out ragged, catching between words, “Her soulmate is dead. Shiro— wh-what do I do?”_ _ _

___“What?!” Who’s dead? What happened!”_ _ _

___Keith’s breathing came sporadically as he tried to regain focus. He didn’t see many people with dead soulmates, and when he did, it was usually in a quiet room, his office, and he could get rid of the people after the episode. Push them out the room after he saw the last moments of their soulmates life literally flash before his eyes. He didn’t just see it, he heard it, he felt it, he tasted the blood in their mouth._ _ _

___But this wasn’t his office, he couldn’t go down the hall and vomit, rush them out of the room and tell them to never come back. He had Lance, who he’d have to deal with after the fact, and they were in a fucking cafe in the middle of the fucking city and _fuck_ this was bad. This was so bad. _ _ _

___“Keith!” Shiro’s voice came from the eye of the storm, pulling Keith from his spiral. “Keith talk to me. Deep breaths. Who died?”_ _ _

___“The soulmate. Lance took a client when I was gone, and he, and they, her soulmate is dead.” Keith paused, taking a deep breath before he continued. “Animal attack. It felt like a bite. And there are wolves on her marks. Shiro what do I say. What am I meant to tell Lance?”_ _ _

___“Tell Lance you sent your source photos of the marks and that he came back with results,” Shiro replied calmly. “There was a death for a person with those initials and birthday by a wolf and that the records are there for where they were buried.”_ _ _

___“But what if he doesn’t—”_ _ _

___“What reason does he have not to trust you?” Shiro interupted. Keith didn’t have an answer for him, Lance had seen what Keith’s ‘source’ could do. The line was silent for a moment before Shiro asked, “Does it still hurt?”_ _ _

___“No,” Keith replied. It wasn’t technically a lie, what he felt wasn’t real, it was just an echo of what the victum had felt in thier last moments, proof that what he’d seen was real._ _ _

___“Okay.” Keith could tell that Shiro didn’t believe him. “It’s going to be okay Keith. You can handle this.”_ _ _

___“Thank you.”_ _ _

___“I love you, Keith.”_ _ _

___“Love you too, Shiro.”_ _ _

___~~~_ _ _

___Lance chatted lightly with Penelope, trying to pass off the fact that Keith had _fucking collapsed_ at the touch of her marks as a weird coincidence. That Keith just had low blood sugar, that this was normal and Lance was definitely, one hundred percent, _not_ freaking out about it. He knew he was glancing too many times at the back of Keith’s head, the phone held to his ear but Lance could hear nothing of the conversation over the bustle of the crowd around them._ _ _

___Finally, Keith returned, giving Penelope a sad look that made Lance’s stomach drop, he touched Lance’s sleeve, pulling him to the side. There was something in his eyes that Lance dreaded, a knowledge he didn’t want to know._ _ _

___“That was my source,” Keith said, his voice hushed. Keith wouldn’t meet his eyes, his hands were clenched together in front of him and Lance could swear they were shaking._ _ _

___“Keith are you…”_ _ _

___“Her soulmate is dead.”_ _ _

___Oh. Oh. Oh god. Keith looked about ready to break and Lance fought the urge to wrap the boy in his arms. Keith didn’t know that he knew about his soulmate. God, Lance wondered, not for the first time, how Keith even did this job. Sure he was good at it, but talent only gave you so much, to have to _tell_ someone that their… having gone through it himself. Lance wondered if that was why Keith was so picky about the clients they took, if there was something on the marks that tipped him off._ _ _

___“Oh fuck,” Lance began, running his fingers through his hair, glancing at the smiling client over his shoulder. “I’ll tell her,” Lance said with resolve, nodding as Keith looked at up with him in surprise. “Do you uh... Did your source tell you where they were buried?”_ _ _

___Keith nodded. “Forthas cemetery,” he murmured._ _ _

___Lance placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder, swallowing down the horror at how much Keith jumped at the simple touch. “Hey man, I’m going to take her there, but you don’t have to come.”_ _ _

___“What do you mean by that?” Keith frowned, his eyebrows scrunching up in the centre of his face and he crossed his arms in front of him. “Of course I’m coming.”_ _ _

___Lance pursed his lips, he shouldn’t say anything, he wasn’t really friends with Keith yet, he had no right to bring it up, to push him. Keith was an adult and if he wanted to do this, well, who was Lance to stop him? But there were some things Lance could do for him._ _ _

___“Okay, but I’m still telling her. You are as blunt as a hammer, this sort of thing needs a finesse that you don’t have,” Lance lifted his tone, tried to make it sound as though that were the only reason._ _ _

___It showed enough that Keith didn’t even try to argue._ _ _

___It showed enough that he hadn’t shrugged off the touch of Lance’s hand, even if Lance knew he wouldn’t be allowed closer. It was a small step that took a little bit closer to the partnership Allura had seen in them from the start._ _ _

___~~~_ _ _

___They’d stood side by side before the gravestone, watching the woman on her knees, marked hand ghosting the engraved words. Keith didn’t know how long they stood there, how long had past before he felt Lance’s warm hand slip into his own, lightly at first, a brush of skin, then Lance hooked their pinkies, and waited, waited for Keith to pull away, and when he didn’t Lance went further, slipping their hands together, squeezing lightly. He’d done it for himself, that was the sort of person Lance was, he used touch for support. Human contact for the hard moments. Keith was okay with providing that support, and if he was being honest with himself, which he rarely let himself be, Lance’s hand in his was a comfort to him as well._ _ _

___~~~_ _ _

___Lance wrapped his fingers around the thin paper cup of his lukewarm coffee. The two of them had been strolling through the park by their work. It had taken Penelope’s sister an hour to show up at the graveyard, and Keith and Lance had stood and waited with the young woman until she did. They had decided afterwards, staring up at the office building, that they deserved a break after that morning, to cool down from it all._ _ _

___So they strolled in silence, sipping at the coffee Keith had insisted on paying for, until they reached the centre of the part where a string quartet of college students were performing for the crowds._ _ _

___The quick beat of the music pulsed through him, each note from the strings flowing through him, calling him. It was a song he knew well, an obscure piece from an artist he couldn’t remember the name of but always pulled at the right strings. He longed to move, to let the music overtake him again._ _ _

___There weren’t many things Lance considered himself a natural at, not even the work he so prided himself on came into that category, he worked hard to get where he was in his career. But dance. Dance was different. He had danced before he’d walked, as cheesy as it sounded. His papi would hoist him on her shoulders and dance them around the room as his mami played her cello. He and Rachel took classes together for years and both had planned on making it their professional careers. That is until Lance fell in love with Soulmark Studies and Rachel discovered a passion in teaching. They still danced together regularly, and family functions had been a locked in gig for them for as long as they could remember, but it wasn’t the same as the stage._ _ _

___Lance almost chose dance. He got headhunted as a back-up dancer for an international pop star during his senior year in college, but he’d given up the spot for Nyma. Because she couldn’t take the time off work to travel with him. He’d given up his childhood dream for her, and he didn’t regret it, not when he loved the work he was doing as much as he did._ _ _

___But in moments like these, as the music flood his senses, regret would poke at the carefully built walls. It was so inviting, and so hard to resist. Lance glanced to the side, expecting to see Keith glaring at him, asking why they had stopped, an excuse already on his tongue. But instead, Lance found himself frozen, unable to look away from the boy beside him._ _ _

___Keith’s head was tilted upwards, his eyes fluttered shut and a smile so wide that there were dimples spotting his cheeks. Both hands cupped the coffee in front of him, finger tap against each other in patterns Lance couldn’t follow, as Keith swayed slightly in time with the melody, so enchanted by the music he hadn’t noticed Lance’s staring._ _ _

____He’s beautiful_. _ _ _

___The thought came unbidden, but Lance couldn't bring himself to throw it aside. It was a beautiful thing, the way one could lose themselves in music. Lance knew the feeling well. Seeing Keith like this, so open and carefree, Lance knew he was seeing a side of Keith not often showed to the world._ _ _

___Keith noticed Lance’s gaze as the song drew to a close, and the smile dropped and he jumped backwards, his cheeks turning a soft shade of pink. Lance chuckled, Keith was obviously not used to the attention, or at least noticing the attention. What a perfect invitation to embarrass. “You’re cute when you’re flustered,” Lance commented, slowly letting his eyes drag up and down Keith, he reached forward and grabbed Keith’s empty cup, “Some guy out there is going to be very lucky to have you.”_ _ _

___Lance walked up to the hat the quartet had placed in the centre and dropped all the change he had in his pocket in there, then dumping the coffee cups in the bin, before turning back to a Keith who was still staring slack jawed at him._ _ _

___“Careful, or you’ll start catching flies.”_ _ _

___Keith’s jaw snapped shut, “Say another word and you’ll have more to worry about than flies McClain.”_ _ _

___“Oh-ho! Big words from the shorter man!” Lance straightened his spine, making a show of looking down at Keith._ _ _

___Keith rolled his eyes, folding his arms across his chest, “I’m an inch shorter than you, if that.”_ _ _

___“Yep,” Lance popped the ‘p’ as he struck a pose, flexing his biceps, “a whole inch of pure muscle that will _definitely_ aid me in kicking your sorry ass.” _ _ _

___Keith looked him up and down, an amused smile on his lips. Without another word he stepped forward and in a movement so swift, Lance couldn’t even follow, Lance’s feet were swept out from out of him and he was falling. Or he would be if Keith hadn’t locked onto his forearm, the only thing between him and a very embarrassing fall. “Yeah, I bet you’d kick my ass,” Keith teased. Lance was stuck, his balance completely thrown, his fate rested entirely on Keith._ _ _

___So naturally, Lance’s response was not a plea for his pride, but a sassy remark. “I’m glad we’re in agreement, mullet!”_ _ _

___Keith laughed, and started to pull Lance to his feet, effortlessly too, as though Lance weighed as much as a child. Lance could see the bulge of Keith’s own biceps in the sleeve of his shirt. For a moment Lance thought his smartass response had worked, that it was humiliating enough that Keith wouldn’t need to take it any further, but then, with a quirk of his lips, Keith’s fingers slipped from his grasp and Lance was sitting stunned on the ground, light pain shooting through his backside, the sight of Keith cackling, a hand cupping his mouth, above him._ _ _

___A giggle of disbelief bubbled out of Lance, as he stared his mouth hanging open. “I can’t believe you just fucking dropped me!” he exclaimed in mock outrage. “I thought we were partners!”_ _ _

___“Careful McClain, or you’ll be catching flies,” Keith said through his laughter. Lance’s eyes narrowed, his tongue swirling in one cheek._ _ _

___“Wow, throw my own shade back at me, why don’t you.”_ _ _

___“Isn’t that what partners do?” Keith smirked, offering his hand to Lance again._ _ _

___“Kogane, I don’t know what handbook you’ve been reading,” Lance replied, taking Keith’s offer and letting the man pull him to his feet, “but friendly fire doesn’t usually come under partnership.”_ _ _

___“Damn, I suppose we’ll just have to make our own handbook.”_ _ _

___“Does that mean you’ve accepted your honorary position as my right hand man?”_ _ _

___“Yeah,” Keith huffed a laugh, “honorary because I’m the leader in this team,”_ _ _

___Lance chuckled as they continued down the path. “In your dreams, Mullet.”_ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you noticed the sudden drop in commas its cause that's as far as my German Alpha Reader got, and he is the comma (and general punctuation) king.
> 
> Let me know what you think! Leave a comment or come talk to me on tumblr!. I'm always open to new friends!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance tackle a case the old fashioned way and, along the way, Keith starts to feel things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! It's been a hot minute, moving countries is hard. But here I am! This fic is my baby and I am definitely doing my best to get chapters out faster! Hope you enjoy

Keith wasn’t sure which moment changed everything. 

“I have to leave early for a family thing, but I’ll be at the Castle Bar tonight. You should come.”

Lance didn’t phrase it as a question. It was a statement; casual, and open-ended, and left everything in the air so that Keith could decide for himself whether he wanted to follow through on it.

And maybe it was because they had bonded in the park. Or the comfort they had found in each other at the cemetery. Or the fact they had fought more times in the past two weeks than Keith had ever done with someone before dropping them, and he was still finding reasons to come back.

Maybe it was just Lance.

Whatever the reason, Keith found himself responding, “Sure, why not.”

Keith wasn’t sure how it happened, or even when it happened, he didn’t know if it came in moments, slowly building inside him as he went.

Pidge grinned at him as Keith entered the bar, “You’ll want to sit over here, Lance is the last one to arrive and he was so hoping it would be you.”

“What? Why?’

“Last one to the bar buys first round.”

Keith raised an eyebrow at her, “Thanks for the heads up,” he drawled.

Pidge shrugged, “Easier to argue that you shouldn’t have to buy first round if you genuinely didn’t know about it.”

“Easier for me to get here earlier if I did know about it,” Keith countered.

“What does it matter? We get to watch Lance have a moment either way.”

Keith rolled his eyes before running them around the room as Pidge typed away at their computer. The bar was almost empty, 

“What are you working on?” 

“Correcting my colleague's terrible formatting on this robotics entrance groupings,” they shook their head, “he didn’t put paragraphs breaks in! He’s a twenty-four year old masters student who didn’t think to put paragraphs breaks in.”

“Wow,” Keith said. “How did he get through… anything without learning that.”

“Fuck if I know.”

Pidge tapped angrily at the keyboard for another moment before stowing the laptop back in their bag. 

“So,” they started, twisting in their seat to face him and Keith froze, Pidge wasn’t actually going to make him do small talk were they? “Matt wants to cut off all his hair, and he wanted opinions.”

Keith snorted, “So you came to me? What makes you think I have any sense of style?” 

Pidge shrugged, looking at him with a lopsided smile and raised eyebrows, “You have a sense of attractiveness in guys, don’t you?” they asked, looking expectantly at him. 

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Keith exclaimed in frustration. What did being gay have to do with anything? 

Pidge shrugged again, picking at their nails. “Does that mean you don’t have an opinion?”

Keith sighed, picturing Matt in his mind, the last time he’d seen him his hair had been longer than Keith’s own. It wasn’t a bad look, but neither was the image of him with short hair. Keith hated this.

“I don’t know,” he grumbled, “He could probably pull it off.”

“Hm, interesting,” Pidge replied. 

Keith was saved from asking why that was interesting by a slamming of the door and a loud gasp, courtesy of none other than Lance. He stood shoulders slumped, eyes narrowed and mouth slack at the pair of them, before his features screwed up into a scowl. Pidge chuckled lightly next to Keith as Lance stomped to the bar to be served by Coran.

Lance stuck out his tongue at Keith as he approached the booth, Hunk coming up with him with a tray of finger food.

Keith gave Lance a dry thanks, as he placed the drink before him. Lance ignored him, sliding in beside Hunk, and glared at Pidge, his lips tightened in an angry pout.

“I told you not to tell him,” he whined, but Pidge just shrugged. 

“Lance it’s 6.15, we meet at 6. I didn’t need to tell him.”

“But I had a reason! Ugh,” he sprawled his upper half across the table, his chin resting against the wood so he was staring right at Keith’s drink, “what are you drinking anyway.”

“It’s an old fashioned,” Keith replied with distaste.

Lance huffed a laugh, “It matches the mullet.”

“Lance, your drink is purple.” 

“Yeah and?” Lance lifted his head just enough to sip out of the long straw. “Some of us actually want to be young and stupid.”

“Oh!” Hunk exclaimed, “Speaking of young and stupid, I saw Benji Jones the other day,”

“Ooooh,” Lance shot up in his seat, his eyes alight with intrigue. “Is he as fine as ever?” 

“He was streaking through town hall in protest of the Fredricks Building being torn down.”

“WHAT!” Lance cried and Pidge clapped their hand over their mouth. 

“You can’t be serious,” they said, “he was an honour student!” 

“Well he was certainly honouring the mayor with something,” Hunk snickered, and his friends laughed alongside him.

Keith smiled awkwardly, and he caught Lance’s gaze. Dread filled Keith as he waited for Lance to call him out on not laughing along with them. “Benji Jones was in our class at college,” he explained instead, “you know how in high school, there’s that one kid who is so insanely brilliant that he’s the actual worst to hang around and yet he has friends cause he’s ‘going places’.”

Keith nodded, remembering how much he and Pidge would make fun of their resident going places asshole. 

“Yeah, well, that was what Benji Jones was for our college and it makes me incredibly happy to see him failing in life.”

Keith, unsure of how to respond just nodded and the group fell into a short silence.

“Speaking of insufferable assholes,” Pidge broke it, “Lance I need your opinion, Matt wants to cut his hair and—”

“NO!” Lance cried, slapping his hand on the table. “Absolutely not, he may not cut those luscious locks.”

“Hah!” They smirked, “I knew I could count on your vote.”

It dawned on Keith, “Is this one of your competitions?”

“Yep, he’s going to do my laundry for a month, care to change your answer?”

Keith chuckled, “Not a chance, we both know all that would do is make my vote void.”

Pidge huffed, rolling their eyes. 

“So, Keith,” Lance leaned forward on one elbow, cocking his head to the side with a sly grin. “You’ve known Pidge a long time huh?” Pidge stiffened beside him, obviously picking up whatever Lance was getting at. 

“Um, yeah?” Keith looked to Hunk, who had slumped back in his seat with an amused smile, “Since we were teenagers.”

“So I bet you have a trove of awkward teenage Pidge stories.” 

Oh. Oh. Keith’s own smile grew, he had _so many_ Pidge stories, the Holt family trip to the Disneyland Carpark being the first to come to mind, but then he heard Pidge laughing softly beside him. 

"Oh Lance,” they sighed, leaning into Keith so their arm was wrapped around his shoulder. “You forget that those stories go both ways. If Keith here, tells you about me, I'll start telling stories about him, beginning," Pidge looked up at Keith with the calmest expression, but he could hear the warning in their tone, "with the reasoning behind his nickname on my phone, and the photo evidence I have to prove it."

Keith would be damned again before he let Lance hear _that_ story.

“Why do you still have photos of that?” Keith muttered, peeling the gremlin off of him and taking a large sip of his drink.

“You should know by now that I don’t delete things.”

“It was seven years ago!” 

“Yes, and for seven years it has been a failsafe moodlifter.”

Keith grumbled profanity at the table, that he knew Pidge would both hear and understand. As Pidge smirked smugly at him, laughing lightly under their breath.

“What’s Keith’s nickname on your phone?” Lance’s question reminded Keith that he wasn’t alone with Pidge, but before he could deflect the question Pidge answered it.

“Shortcake.”

“Pidge!” Keith exclaimed, eyes wide in distress, and seconds away from spilling Pidge’s most embarrassing secrets before they shushed him. 

“Don’t yell at me,” they chided, “if I didn’t tell him he just would’ve stolen my phone the first chance he got and looked himself. It’s the story behind it that makes it blackmail material.”

Keith looked to his partner with disdain but Lance shrugged and nodded his head in confirmation. “It’s true, I would have.”

“And anyway,” Pidge continued, “I’m not telling them anything else, as long as you keep your mouth shut.”

They weren’t giving Keith much of a choice. Lance couldn’t hear that story, Mullet was a bad enough nickname. He shrugged at Lance.

Lance huffed, “It’s not fair!” he whined, “They know all my embarrassing stories!”

Keith’s grin slowly grew again.

Lances eyes blew open, as he realised his mistake, blurting out: “Pigeon I’ll pay for your drinks for the next month if you don’t tell the Osbou—”

“So this one time in college,” Pidge said, talking over Lance, “when Lance was in the Osbour dance troupe he was flirting with this senior, and...”

Keith settled back in his seat as he listened to Pidge and Hunk take turns teasing Lance, laughing along as Lance turned a further shade of red with every passing minute. They didn’t expect him to make smalltalk, or be largely active in the conversation; but at the same time, Keith never felt like he was being excluded. And, for once, he knew the reason why; everytime the conversation strayed to something Keith had no input in, Lance would turn the conversation around, make it into a story or change the topic entirely, so Keith was always a part of the group. Even if his input consisted of snarky comments and the occasional tease, it didn’t matter. Lance was actively ensuring Keith never got left out. And it made Keith feel good. It made him feel wanted, that _Lance_ wanted him there. A warm feeling pooled in his gut at the thought, and Keith wasn’t sure he liked the feeling.

~~~

Work ran a lot smoother now that the pair of them had learnt how to work together, and every day it just got easier. Keith had found, that if he actually tried to communicate and talk through his ‘theories’, even if his reasoning was complete bullshit, Lance was a lot more likely to go along with his leads. 

And Lance wasn’t just tagging along, the longer Keith worked with him, the more he realised how much help Lance could be. He may not have the specific skill sets that Keith possessed, but Keith’s customer service rating had never been higher than when Lance was around to smile and shake hands. He made the soulmate talk that Keith couldn’t, and let Keith figure out where their soulmate was. Lance was also brilliant at picking up on clues that helped them narrow down where in the city the soulmate could be heading. Clues that were related to the markings about their first meeting: street art that Keith never paid attention to, corners where buskers most frequented and the little coffee shops that sold specific kinds of teas. Lance had an eye for detail Keith had never seen in anyone else.

That was without mentioning the uplifting effect Lance had on Keith’s daily mood. Though Shiro hadn’t brought up telling Lance his secret again, he also hadn’t failed to comment on the number of stories Keith told him about ridiculous dramatic acts Lance had done that made Keith laugh.

“You know I haven’t seen you smile this much about anyone in a long time Keith.”

Even Keith could admit it was strange. He rarely got attached to people, according to Shiro he had ‘severe abandonment issues which he dealt with by not allowing himself to get close to others’. But, despite their rocky start, Lance had somehow leapt right over those initial walls, settling into Keith’s life as though he had been saving a space there all along. It was the Lance Effect, and from what Keith had seen, no one was safe from it.

“Hey man, you ready?” Lance said as he stood from his desk, it was Tuesday, and their exemplary work over the last two weeks had earned them a summons to Lotor’s office for a meeting with a high-profile client. Keith had never actually been in Lotor’s office before, all proceedings before had gone through Allura, she was the one who had hired him, and as far as he knew, was the only one who knew about his disposition. Though, Lotor was her soulmate, who knew if that promise extended to him.

Even if he did, he wouldn’t bring it up now, surely. Keith tugged on the edges of his gloves.

Keith hated secrets, he’d spent his life living in one, and he still hated it. He refused to look at Lance walking beside him, who was being uncharacteristically quiet. Refused to think about what Shiro had said about just telling him. It wasn’t that easy. What if it unravelled all the progress they had made? What if Lance looked at him differently?

He hated secrets, but he couldn’t risk the truth. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Lance, he did, to some degree anyway. He was honestly surprised at how comfortable Lance made him, things roll off the guy like they were nothing. It was impressive how level-headed and professional Lance was, despite the exuberant personality that he constantly wore on his sleeve. Lance was pleasantly charming, and he had some built-in sensor that knew exactly how thick he should lay on the charm. Keith had seen him go from sickly sweet flirting to stone-faced and curt handshake between clients. It was the complete opposite of Keith, who could barely talk to people in a normal manner without getting on the wrong side of them. He’d never tell her but, Allura had been right, they did make a good team.

“What do you think this is about?” Lance said, his fingers playing with each other in front of his body.

“Didn’t you read the email?” Keith asked dryly, crossing his arms

“I did read it! I meant who do you think it is?”

“I don’t know,” Keith replied, not up to date on the latest celebrity... anything.

“Fuck what if it’s Zendaya, she hasn’t met her soulmate, god I can’t deal with this sort of pressure!”

Keith grabbed Lance’s forearm, drawing them to a stop, “Lance, what’s going on? You’re the people person, and whoever is behind that door is still a person.” Lance slumped, pouting at him. Keith didn’t think about how he hadn’t pulled his arm out of Keith’s grip. It wasn’t important. 

“I know, but what if—”

“But what if nothing,” Keith interrupted sharply, “the next person you stand in line behind at the coffee store might be our next president, or the next Elton John. The number of instagram followers they have doesn’t change their status as a person or yours as a people person. So unless you want me doing the talking, I’d turn on that dumb smile of yours and get in there!”

“My smile is not dumb!” Lance shot back, clutching his chest for a moment before shoving his hand forward, jabbing his finger in Keith’s face, “You love my smile! Admit it!”

Keith ducked away from Lance’s accusative poking, trying to resist the urge to laugh. Despite his efforts, he couldn’t hold back the smile that formed on his own face, so he masked it with raised eyebrows and an eye roll. “Whatever you say, Lance.”

Keith let go of Lance’s arm and continued to walk to Lotor’s office. He didn’t look back to see if Lance was following, and he certainly didn’t think anything of the warmth blooming in his chest at the thought of Lance smiling because of him. A warmth that continued to plague him, the more time he spent around Lance.

~~~

As the CEO of the company, Lotor was untouchable, or at least, he acted like it. He’d built his father’s company up from the small local detective firm to the third highest grossing company on this side of the world. He and Allura had been equal partners in the firm since they’d met, each of them running a different side of the work. In the six years he’d worked for the company Keith had only had a handful of encounters with Lotor himself and based on the arrogance that radiated off of the man, who was not that much older than himself, Keith wasn’t complaining.

“McClain, Kogane, thank you for joining us,” Lotor stood as they entered, Allura smiling at them proudly beside him, “I have the pleasure to introduce you to Damien Sandover.”

Lance drew in a sharp breath, hand reaching out to grab at Keith’s arm, though it deliberately swerved at the last minute. Lance made a grab at a filing cabinet stumbling slightly as he awkwardly tried to make the arm now around Keith look natural. 

Keith smiled a little, his mind wandering to the reason behind Lance’s ungraceful change of direction. To the talk they’d had a few days after Keith had returned from the shack.

_“I think we need to set up some basic guidelines so something like the last week doesn’t happen again,” Lance said, taking his seat in the office, pulling out a piece of paper. “Or more, so I don’t say something dumb again.”_

_Keith fought the urge to make a snarky reply and instead just laughed lightly, nodding in agreement. “If you think that’ll make it easier.”_

_“I do!” Lance spread his arms, “Believe it or not Mullet, but I actually want this partnership to work out.”_

_“Can I add ‘stop calling me Mullet’ on this list?”_

_“Not a chance.”_

_Keith sighed, leaning forward so his hair fell in his eyes._

_“Does the nickname genuinely bother you?”_

_Keith wasn’t expecting that question, he looked up again to see a open expression on Lance’s face, neutral, with bright blinking blue eyes. It wasn’t much of a gesture, and there was a chance Keith was reading it wrong, but to Keith, that look told him that if the nickname actually upset him, Lance would stop using it immediately._

_It was a simple thing, but the implications behind it meant everything to Keith. So he waved off Lance’s concerns about the nickname._

_“Okay good,” Lance replied, nodding to himself he tapped his pen against the desk, “So, you obviously don’t like soulmate talk, which is fine! To each their own, and I can definitely keep that talk to a minimum, but is there anything else?”_

_Keith paused, biting his lip. He should say it, it could make everything easier. But then what if Lance questions it, he works in the industry, Lance sees him touching soulmarks daily, but if it keeps Lance’s marks away. The marks that bound him to another person. God, Keith didn’t want to touch them. Not even by accident._

_“I don’t like it when people touch me with their soulmarks.”_

_Keith didn’t let himself look up from his desk, to meet the eyes of his partner. He waited for the questions, the onslaught, the discovery of his secret, that slur chanting faintly at the back of his mind. But it never came, instead, after a moment of silence, Lance simply replied._

_“Okay.”_

And for the week and a half since, Lance had made an effort to follow through with his promise, going as far as to wearing fingerless navy blue gloves, silk and covered in small embroidered stars, whenever they didn’t have clients in the room. The first day he’d worn them Lance had gushed about how thankful he was for a reason to wear them, having being given the pair for Christmas. Keith appreciated how far Lance was willing to go to make their working life easier.

Keith held out his hand to their new client, stepping out of Lance’s arm. He didn’t really know who the guy was, his face was vaguely familiar in that celebrity status way, but Keith would never have been able to name him. Lance, on the other hand, seemed to be hyperventilating a little beside him at the mere sight of the celebrity. 

“It’s nice to meet you Mr Sandover,” Keith said, “my partner and I would be happy to help you find your soulmate.”

“Keith!” Lance squeaked through gritted teeth, finding his feet again just in time to correct Keith, “That’s not that line!”  
Keith’s smile didn’t reach his eyes as he shrugged at his partner. “Then get over here and tell it to him yourself.”

“Well I can’t do it now,” Lance muttered but he put on his biggest, dumbest smile and shook the client’s hand. “It’s an honour to meet you Mr Sandover, I’m a big fan of your work, especially the Carry On film.”

“Thank you,” Mr Sandover replied, his accent was thick and British, and Keith heard Lance’s sharp intake of breath from a foot away and glanced over to find Lance’s eyes almost manic with excitement as he took in their client. Keith rolled his eyes, smiling softly. The actor looked between them, “Is it nice? Working with your soulmate?”

Keith glanced back, expecting Mr. Sandover to be looking at Lotor and Allura, however he frowned when he realised that their client was staring at himself and Lance.

“What?” Keith blurted out, he looked to Lance who was similarly perplexed.

“Mr. Sandover, Keith and I aren’t soulmates."

“Oh!” the actor said in surprised, “I apologise, I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“No, it’s fine, I completely understand,” Lance said quickly, “Keith and I are _the_ dream team when it comes to soulmate sleuthing. We’re just not soulmates ourselves.”

There was the Lance Keith liked to see, cool and collected, witty with a smile no matter what. The Lance that was confident in his work.

“So, Mr Sandover,” Lance continued, “Is there anything you could give us to help narrow down our search? Are we looking for a man or a woman? Any clues to their name or birth that you could tell us, things you’ve figured out yourself?”

“A woman, and my marks aren’t particularly descriptive, so I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer.”

“Not a problem!” Lance assured him, clasping his hands together, “may we take a look at your marks?”

Mr Sandover held out his hand as Lance kept chattering, “Is there any reason you chose to come to us here at Oriande Soulmate Agency?” 

“Yes,” Mr. Sandover nodded as Lance looked over his marks “I wished to be preemptive in searching for my soulmate, rather than let it happen naturally. I’m sure you are aware of how.. volatile the public can get with celebrity soulmates. They are more likely to be snatched than the celebrity themselves!” He shook his head, sighing. “I would like to give whoever she is the chance to turn it all down, live a normal life without the publicity. That’s why I requested that Lotor be especially discreet about my case. I do not even wish to be present when you find her.”

“That’s really chivalrous of you,” Lance commented, stepping aside so Keith could study the marks.   
_Yeah, chivalrous, and a lot more difficult to track down in a day if you’re not there to keep the connection visible,_ Keith’s mind muttered as he carefully took the actor’s hand in his own.

Keith studied the marks before he touched them, he looked at them as Lance would, as everyone else in this building had to, at face value. They weren’t particularly unique, at least in the way an entirely unique mark could be unoriginal. There was smoke running along the top, but it wasn’t dark or shaded, but light like clouds, running into blotches of stars created by negative space, that would look stunning lit up with any colour gradient. The initials S.A. were imprinted on beside the numbers 9.12,2.

It was generally accepted that the numbers had to do with a person’s birthday, but that wasn’t always the case, it could be a moment in their lives that changed their destiny, their entire world, which is the reason why they became the person they are. It could be a miracle before they were even born, a reason for their parents to keep living. It was assumed that it was to do with the day they were born but, in Keith’s experience, it was closer to the moment that started them on the path to being who they were, the start of the butterfly effect that paired them with the person they were supposedly destined to be with.

The rings were packed and layered with more images than Keith couldn’t really understand; he knew sometimes soulmarks didn’t make sense till they lit up with colours, but this was the most cluttered soulmark Keith had ever seen. He heard Lance chuckle beside him.

“Looks like she’s a traveller,” he remarked as Keith’s fingers ghosted over the outer right, and Keith turned to look at him.

“You think so?”

“Don’t you?” Lance pointed at the middle rings of the mark, “Look at all those different layers, those are landmarks for different cities around the world, and the sailing ship,” Keith squinted at where Lance was pointing, he’d thought it was a tent, “either that person really loves miniature boats, or they are a born traveller.”

“That’s... really insightful Lance.” Keith admitted, tilting his head, trying to get the layers of images crammed into the marks to form the few landmarks he was aware of. It was harder than Lance made it seem. 

“No need to sound so surprised, partner,” Lance said teasingly, though Keith could hear the smidgen of bite behind the words. A small plea that Keith wasn’t sure he was meant to hear, though it didn’t stop the weight of it hitting him like a steamroller.

Keith hummed away the guilt, vowing to pay for their next coffee, before lightly brushing his fingers over the man’s marks. He let the wave of emotions that didn’t belong to him wash over, the smell of strong coffee, a door jingling as someone walked through. A bright voice. Keith felt his heart pound, as he reached for a mug with a hippo insignia that nagged at the back of Keith’s mind. When Keith opened his eyes again, he saw the sparkling silver string that hung from the man’s hand lead out the open window towards the south of the city. A coffee shop. His soulmate worked in a coffee shop in one of the biggest cities in the state and Keith couldn’t use the man’s soulstring to trace them. _Great_.

Keith turned to Lance, “Have you picked up on anything else?”

Lance forehead furrowed, uncertainty washing over him, especially as Keith stepped aside without a comment on the marks. Keith could probably find something to do with coffee shops on the soulmarks, could point it out, and he would if Lance didn’t spot it. But he’d seen how bright Lance’s eyes had shined when they’d seen the actor, to just be in his presence. Keith knew this was important to Lance. And since his partner had been so accepting about his strange request, had even gone out of his way to bring in his own gloves to wear around the office; handing Lance the chance to impress someone he admired was hardly something to give in return.

Keith pursed his lips and gestured at the marks expectantly, as though this was their usual dynamic.

“Right, right,” Lance said, and took Mr. Sandover’s hand in his, palm upwards as he examined the marks closer. “Do you mind if we take photos Mr Sandover?”

“As long as you don’t plan on selling them,” the actor responded gravely. Lance frowned, leaning back as he stared, wide eyed, at their client.  
“What! No of course not! I would never!”

Mr Sandover just shrugged, “I have to be sure, it happens far too often.”

“That’s fucked,” Lance muttered, and Keith had to bite his lip to stop himself laughing as Lance looked up at their client with the expression of a kid who just swore in front of their parent. “I’m so sorry! That was inappropriate, I—”

The actor just smirked at Lance “I agree" Sandover interrupted, “It’s entirely fucked.” and Keith could’ve sworn he saw Lance’s knees buckle a little, he definitely heard Lance’s happy hum that matched the dopey smile on his face.

Lance looked, for all intents and purposes, smitten with the man. Maybe Lance had a thing for the accent. 

Not that Keith needed to know that.

Keith didn’t have a British accent anyway. 

That didn’t matter.

He didn’t want to make Lance smitten.

That was not a path he could go down with him.

“Keith?” Lance’s voice snapped him out of his trainwreck of thoughts.

“Yes?” Keith replied, “Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“Mr Sandover has another appointment to meet, is there anything else you wanted to ask him?”

Keith shook his head and Lance turned back to the actor holding out his hand. 

“Thank you very much for meeting us today, we’ll be in contact with you within three days with an update,” he said, bouncing back into professional Lance.

Keith shook the man’s hand as well, trying not to brush his fingers against the man’s marks, though keeping his face neutral when he failed and the image of the back of a woman with long bushy dark hair flashed before his eyes. The taste of sweet tea coated his mouth, his fingers warm from gripping the coffee cup, and the line of silver glowed brightly again; not dimming until Lotor lead the celebrity out of the office, leaving Keith and Lance alone with Allura.

“Right boys, it is very important to this client that you find his soulmate and approach them with this knowledge before you even tell him their name. Do you understand? He will pay double for your efforts, but you must follow his conditions for the safety of the soulmate in question.” Allura looked directly at Keith as she said this, her eyebrows raised pointedly. He nodded, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, hating the implication that he couldn’t do this without his ability. He had Lance to help him put together what those moments had given him.  
Lance was going to take charge on this case, Keith had seen his records prior to their partnership, Lance knew what he was doing.  
“Oh my god, holy crows and quiznaks did you see that!” Lance exclaimed the moment they left the room, tugging on the sleeve of Keith’s jacket as he jumped along the hallway, “We just met Damien Sandover! I talked to him! With _words!_ ” Lance squealed.

Keith stepped away from him, wincing at the loud noises his partner was emitting. Lance had really kept it together in there. “You really like this actor, don’t you?”

“Are you fucking kidding? God he’s been the top of my celebrity cheat list since Nyma and I watched that Friends episode. Honestly, Damien Sandover could step on me any day.” Lance fanned himself with the gloves he’d pulled out of his pocket, slipping them on.

“Your what? He could... what?”

“You know, the three celebrities you could sleep with given the chance, without your significant other getting mad?” Lance explained, “like mine are Damien Sandover, Viengsay Valdés and Gillian Anderson in the 90s.”

“Gillian Anderson in the _90s_?”

“Yeah, like when she was first Scully, with the bob and perfectly framed face.”

“But how are you expecting to be able to use the card if you’ve limited her to a part you’ll never see?”

“Hey, hey, hey! You don’t know when time travel will be a thing! I’m not risking the chance to have _Dana Scully_ dominate me because I was too narrow minded to not consider possible future technology.”

Keith had no idea how to respond to that.

“Does this mean you’re going to start flirting with our client?” he asked instead.

Lance gave him a sly smile, raising his eyebrows, “No need to be jealous.”

“I’m not jealous!” Keith spat, a lot louder than was necessary, as Lance laughed beside him. Keith cursed his body for its betrayal as his heart pounded as much blood into his face as it could.

“You’re so easy to fluster,” he chuckled shaking his head. “Of course I’m not going to start flirting with him, I’m a professional, and, I mean, it would be very distasteful when we’re looking for his literal endgame.” 

“I am not,” Keith grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.

“Whatever you say Mullet.”

“You know,” Keith argued, “it’s not a mullet.”

“Oh really? Did you google that?”

“...No.” 

“Oh my god you did.” 

“No! I just know it’s not a mullet.”

Lance gasped jabbing his finger at Keith, “That’s exactly what someone with a mullet would say!”

Keith groaned, regretting all life decisions that lead to this moment, especially the one that had him googling what made a mullet the night before. “Can we just get to solving the case.”

“No, I want to hear more about why you think it could be anything but a mullet.”

“Oh, fuck off.”

“Nice come back, Mullet.”

“It’s not a mullet!”

Lance would not stop with his shit-eating grin, body shaking slightly with poorly contained laughter, as he held open the door for Keith, “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Mullet.”

Keith crossed his arms, looking pointedly away from Lance, as he slumped in his chair. 

“So!” Lance continued, reaching for his phone, “Same plan of attack? I send you the pictures and you get in contact with your source?”

Keith shook his head, “He’s not around right now, we have to do this one ourselves.”

“Oh,” Lance scratched the back of his neck, “What does that mean?”

“It means you take the lead,” Keith arched back his shoulders, maintaining eye contact across the room, even as Lance drooped his head. “Lance,” he said firmly, “I’ve seen your stats, there is a reason they paired you up with me, in your own words, you’re damn good at your job.”

“I… I guess.” Lance licked his lips and nodded to himself, his spine straightened, and Keith watched Lance rise up again, meeting him at eye level. “Yes, I can do this.”

“Of course, you can,” Keith raised his eyebrows, wondering where that seed of doubt in Lance had begun, “Where do we start?”

~~~

Lance’s current headspace reminded him of the petting zoo his parents had hired for his 9th birthday. There had been so many different thing rushing through his mind, too much noise suffocating him to be able to focus on any on train of thought. Especially when one of the kids had let the goats out of the enclosed space. That kid definitely being Lance. He’d just wanted to free them! They looked so lonely and cramped in that space and he could feed them better when they were out, or at least that’s what made sense to him at the time? And the zookeeper had said there was a lion in the trailer that they couldn’t bring out and was Lance meant to just let them herd the poor goats in there with the predator? Anyway, where was he… Right, his head was going a million miles a minute along whatever tracks his train of thought decided to drag him on.

Meanwhile Keith was standing there, on the other side of Lance’s desk, his arms crossed across his chest, staring at him with dark eyes that Lance still hadn’t determined the exact colour of. Lance had forfeited the reigns to Keith in their partnership, he contributed, but at the end of the day Keith was the one with the source and the seeming sixth sense of knowing exactly where a person’s soulmate would be, neither of which he cared to explain but it was _fine_. Keith was weird and mysterious but he got the job done, and Lance had more or less accepted that he would never emerge from Keith’s shadow. That he would always be the backup dancer, never principle. It was fine, Lance was fine with it.

And then by some twist of fate, change in personality, Lance was certainly not ruling out human cloning; Keith had handed the case over to him. _Keith_ was the one waiting on _Lance’s_ lead. And Lance was struggling. As much as he’d teased Keith about it, Lance felt very flustered under Keith’s gaze, those annoyingly pretty eyes boring right through him. Lance’s breathing grew heavier as he printed off the photos, laying them out across the desk. 

“So, any ideas?” he asked Keith, who’d finally sat down across from him and had spun one photo around, his fingers tracing the outer lines of the soulmark. 

“I think it has something to do with a coffee shop,” Keith replied, brushing over a lightly shaded part that Lance supposed could be steam from a coffee machine if you looked at it the right way. 

Lance pulled a different photo closer to him, spinning it around, tracing the outer lines with his fingernail, racking his mind for , “what makes you think coffee?” he murmured.

“The steam,” Keith replied, not bothering to explain further.

“That could be from a personal machine, or a number of other things, why specifically coffee shop?” Lance prompted, attempting to draw something more out of the man of few words.

Keith shrugged, diverting his eyes beyond the photos to Lance’s gloved hand. “A hunch.”

Lance huffed a laugh. Keith had more hunches than the hunchback of Notre Dame.

“Sure, there are only hundreds of coffee shops in our city, assuming that his soulmate even is here.”

“They are,” Keith said firmly, nodding to himself.

“Well,” Lance prodded, “we don’t know that, he was sent here from the London branch, there’s no guarantee that this is even the right side of the country.”

“I’m sure.”

Lance sighed, shaking his head, it was took vague, they needed something more specific, that would narrow it down. 

“Where do you think we should start?”

Lance met Keith’s gaze, his blood pounding at the determined purse of Keith’s mouth. Keith was really giving him the lead for this case.   
Lance couldn’t let him down, he refused to. He focused on the marks, the outer rings that gave clues to where the person would be when they met. Though, without the client coming with them, that wouldn’t be so easy, there was no guarantee that they would find at the place the marks showed on any day but the day they would meet.

So, Lance looked closer at the second ring, the one that told him about the soulmate. They were definitely a traveller, possibly not even from America. Though he could see why they had sent the actor here, the gradient of triple steeples that stood out on top of the rest of the markings was fairly iconic to their city. He looked past that for unique symbols, for specific parts that stood out, that could be or logos or art around the city. He would then put them through a database, searching for them before turning on the charm and asking questions about initials and birthdays. But, that usually only worked for the first meeting, when the person came regularly, the second ring was rarely useful in finding leads. Maybe Keith was right, maybe they would have to follow it like a normal case and hope that the person was a regular somewhere.

Lance looked at the outer ring, the ridges that often held hidden clues. Soulmarks were never perfectly circular, they were a splattering of ink across a person’s palm, the rings were only called so for clarity, for each layer overlapped with the next, messy, unique, a perfect reflection of a person’s soul. Lance always loved that his was smoother than most, his outer edges calm aside from the coloured lights shooting out from them, stars around his universe, his soulmate. Even if Nyma wasn’t everything he’d always imagined, it didn’t matter, he loved her, and she loved him. Who were they to argue with the universe?

The edges of Damien Sandover’s soulmarks were familiar but he couldn’t quite understand why, so Lance looked at the other images around the outside. Strikes of darkness to one side, that could be rain, but it could also be trees or a loud noise at the moment they meet or a smell their soulmate doesn’t enjoy. There was the clouds of smoke Keith had mentioned, they definitely looked like steam from a coffee or tea maker, too thin to be from a fire, but again, that coffee maker could be anywhere, it might not even be in a store. Beneath the steam was a pile of books, Lance couldn’t read the titles, they weren’t in English.

“Lance?” Keith’s voice intercepted his train of thought, and Lance realised that he’d left Keith hanging.

“I think we should look into these books.” Lance pointed to a spot just above the stack. “The titles aren’t English. We could look into places and libraries that stock them, see if they have records of someone buying them all.”

It was a shaky lead at most, most bookstores didn’t store that knowledge, and usually only the bigger businesses utilised the soulmate waiver that allowed them to access said records. But Keith had been looking at him so expectantly, Lance had needed to give him something, to show him that he wasn’t a complete waste.

He expected Detective Extraordinaire to spit his lead in the face, but Keith just nodded and said, “Okay,” and walked back to his desk, taking the photograph with him, and pulled out a company-issued magnifying glass to get more detail on the titles.  
Keith really was something.

~~~ 

Keith was determined to take Lance’s lead on this. Even if it was taking two days, even if they still had no solid leads and even Lance’s outward confidence was wavering. It was frustrating, they’d spent the better part of the day driving around to bookstores and old-fashioned coffee houses looking for any clues. Lance had spotted the logo, and Keith still didn’t know how he’d picked apart the detail from the swirls of skin and marks without knowing it was there. But it had led them to an old-style coffee maker that wasn’t sold anymore, and was rare to begin with, but they hadn’t been able to track down the original supplier.

Keith wasn’t used to investigations taking this long or involving this much _talking_. It was exhausting, and he was thankful that Lance was there to take the brunt of it, even if it meant he had to listen to Lance’s soulmark story again. Keith was certain he could recite the thing off by heart now.

Lance sighed as he pulled himself into the driver’s seat. “Well that was a waste of time.”

Keith looked to him, wishing he could wipe the disappointment from Lance’s features, brush his fingers through his hair until the tension in his shoulders fell away. But he couldn’t do any of that, so instead he said, “What do we do now?”

“Now, unless you’ve got any trick cards up your sleeve, we go get some cheap coffee to mourn our lost leads and hopefully make a brainchild.”

Keith still didn’t understand some of the things Lance said, but he nodded, staying quiet for the short drive until they pulled into a familiar coffee house parking lot.

“Lance…” Keith said, as his partner hopped out of the car, “are you sure this is a good idea, after last time?”

“Of course, it is,” Lance said, opening Keith’s door ushering him out of the car that Keith was regretting agreeing to take. Keith didn’t think this was a good idea. Confrontation never worked out well for him.

Lance didn’t seem to be worried, so Keith followed him inside, babbling away as always, not that it bothered Keith, “We’ll have to call Mr Sandover today, we told him we’d get back to him. I’m not sure what to tell him.”

Keith noticed Lance’s hand fidgeting, the nervous twitch had gotten steadily worse since Keith had given him control; it was the only thing that broke through Lance’s show of confidence.

“I don’t know either, but we’ll figure it out together,” Keith wasn’t sure what he was saying, but he’d seen it work in the movies Adam made him watch.

Lance huffed a laugh, he smiled back at Keith, “Fuck yeah we will! But first, coffee from my evil twin!”

The coffee shop was bustling, with most of the booths and tables filled, a short man stepped forward, “hi, please take a seat wherever you’d like.”

“Hey, is Rachel here? I’m her brother.”

The man’s smile dropped a smidge. “Yeah, she’s working section c over there,” he pointed to a corner of the café, “is everything okay?”

“Oh yeah, I just like watching her make me coffee.”

The waiters smile dropped completely, “Okay,” he drew out, before taking a sharp breath. “There should be a free table in her section still if you want to head over there.”

“Thanks man!”

Lance led Keith over taking a seat at one of the small tables with the giant chairs. Keith sat up awkwardly, looking at the menu without reading it.

“Keith, chill out, she’s not going to bite.”

Naturally, it was at this moment that Rachel approached their table, stopping dead as her eyes locked onto Keith and her face contorting into a scowl. Lance laughed breathily beside him.

“Hey Duckling, remember Keith?”

Rachel hissed, slapping Lance across the arm with her notepad, “Don’t call me that here!” Not being distracted for long, her gaze darted back to Keith, lips pressing into a thin line. “I’m not giving him my discount,” she informed Lance, without breaking eye contact with Keith. She had the same bright blue eyes that he had, contrasting strongly against her darker skin.

“Fine,” Lance sighed, shrugging at Keith as though that was the best offer they’d get. Keith didn’t want to argue.

“What do you want?”

“Two cups of coffee, soy for Keith and without spit please.”

Rachel scoffed, “As if I’d risk my job just to spite him.”

“Thanks Rach!”

“Whatever, it’ll take a while because our machine is being glitchy.”

Keith watched her go, her long curls braided down her back in a way that was eerily familiar.

“Sorry about her,” Lance said, “she’s not great at letting things go.”

“It’s fine,” Keith said quickly, it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to being the source of hatred. “I’m surprised she didn’t just kick me out of here.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Lance waved away Keith’s concerns with his hand and casual tone, Keith leaned back in his chair raising an eyebrow dubiously. “Okay fine,” Lance conceded, “She probably would have if it was just you here. But she’ll get over it when you show how spectacularly normal you can be.”

“No pressure.”

“None at all,” Lance grinned at Keith as his phone buzzed on the table. Nyma’s face popped up on his lock screen as ‘I Won’t Say, I’m In Love’ started playing. “Sorry, I’ll just be a second,” Lance got up from the table.

Keith looked around the café, it was a chain café name but the café itself was nothing like the one uptown, where that place was like crystal with glass panels and white countertops; this place was closer to honey, with warm browns and golds, soft jazzy music playing throughout the building. With the rich smell of coffee in the air, it was the perfect environment to relax, as proven by the many customers who seemed to come for the sole purpose of reading one of the countless books that lines the walls and side tables with a coffee and cake. 

Keith didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when Lance raised his voice slightly from where he was standing against the wall, just enough to be heard. Well, it wasn't his fault was it? "--promised you would be there." Lance sounded irritated. "Fine. Whatever, I’m at work, can we talk about this when I get home?" A pause. "Again? Can’t you do it another night?" Another pause. "Fine."

Keith bit his lip as Lance took the seat across from him, slamming his phone down on the table a little harder than necessary. Though nothing else showed his frustration, Lance seemed as relaxed as ever, a lopsided grin on his face.

Keith wasn’t sure if he should ask. It wasn’t his place, right? But they were friends and friends ask these sorts of thing so they can provide comfort. Right? He wished he could call Shiro, Shiro always had the answers.

He should ask and if Lance brushed him off then he wouldn’t push it. Keith hoped Lance would brush it off. He could pretend like he hadn’t heard, and just go on like nothing had happened. Then he wouldn’t have to ask. He really didn’t want to talk about Nyma.

But Lance had been so understanding about his reluctance to talk about his soulmate without so much as a vague explanation of why. Lance was so good, and he made Keith happy. Though he’d never admit it, if he was given the choice, Keith wouldn’t go back to working alone. Not when he had Lance to make him laugh with snide comments, who could read and direct the flow of conversation where Keith just helplessly watched it burn. Lance was so good. 

And for what? For a broken partner, someone who could barely talk to people without feeling like he was drowning. For the lead in the case that Keith couldn’t use his abilities for. Lance deserved better than that.

“Is everything—” Keith started, right as Lance said “I swear—”

“What?” they said in sync. Lance laughed and Keith sighed, a small smile on his lips.

“You go first,” Lance said, gesturing with his hand out.

“I just wanted to ask if everything is okay with you?”

“Oh.” Lance’s demeanour dropped a notch, he was still smiling but his eyes lost the crinkle in the corners, and his hand dropped to the table. 

“Uh, yeah,” his eyes darted to his phone and back to Keith. “Just home stuff.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Keith said, his voice going unnaturally high mid sentence, Lance raised his eyebrows at him, “I’m not…I’m not the best at this stuff, sorry.”

The corner of Lance’s eyes crinkled once again, but the smile on his face was softer. “Thank you, Keith, but I’m okay.” Lance leaned forward, his gloved knuckles brushing against Keith’s fists clenched on the table. “I really appreciate you asking though. You’re a good guy.”

Keith’s heart beat faster and as Lance’s hand pulled back again Keith wished he could lean forward and grab it again. He made himself look at Lance’s phone, made himself think about the picture of Nyma that was on the lock screen. Lance’s soulmate. He loved her and that was that.

A red cup with a cartoon hippo was placed in front of him, steam and the smell of strong coffee wafting out of it.

“Oh my god,” Lance said, as his own adult looking mug was placed in front of him.

Keith blinked up at Rachel, eyebrows turned up in the middle.

“You get adult cups when you can show me that you can use them without breaking them,” she explained with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

Keith was speechless, and Lance was no help, having broken down into giggles over his own drink. 

“Enjoy your drinks boys!” Rachel said in a typical retail sing-song voice and walked off.

Keith frowned at the drink, then at Lance as the tell-tale sound of his phone camera clicking. “Delete that now!” he cried, making a grab at Lance’s phone, but his partner just held it out of his reach.

“Not in a million years mullet.” He smirked, “Now Pidge and I both have some blackmail material. Care to share some juicy small Pidge stories now?”

“No, Pidge’s blackmail is worse.” Lance _would not_ hear that story.

“Damn.” Lance shrugged, then smiled again as he looked at his phone, “That still made today so much better.”

Keith leaned back in his chair, pointedly ignoring the small part of him that delighted at making Lance’s day better.

~~~

Keith had insisted on paying for the coffee, even after Lance warned him that Rachel would probably make him pay full price, because he said he needed to use it as a way to apologise to Rachel, who was now working the counter. It had surprised Lance how instistant Keith was to get back on his sister’s good side, especially when to most, her response could be considered petty. Keith was a good guy, and a good friend, once you got past his bitter outer shell. And Lance knew he was getting past it, Keith had even offered to talk about Nyma today, which was a major step in Lance’s books.

As Keith waited in line, Lance strolled around the café, taking in all the odd books, trying to spot new ones that he himself might be interested in.

They were always changing, the store manager Sophia loved adding titles she spotted at swap meets and old stores. She had turned down countless promotions just so she could stay at her little café and continue to build her collection. As Lance walked along the newer shelves opposite the register his eyes snagged on a familiar cover. “No fucking way,” he muttered as his fingers brushed along the cover, the same title as one of the books they’d been searching for. He scanned the shelves again and one by one he found the titles of all the books on the soulmark. Lance whipped around, crying Keith’s name at the exact moment that Keith was calling his.

“They have the coffee maker!” Keith called, and Lance felt a swell of relief and jubilation wash through him, as he called back.

“They have the books too!”

“She’s here!” Keith’s face lit up in a wide grin and Lance could see the dimples spotting his cheeks. He half ran up to the counter leaning forward and grinning widely at his sister, the clutter of marks on Mr. Sandover’s hand coming together perfectly.

“Who’s here?” Rachel asked behind the counter and Lance rushed over.

“Is Sophia on today?” Lance looked around the café, hoping to spot the manager’s trademark blue hair.

“Yeah of course, why?” Rachel replied, Lance bounced where he stood, unable to keep the excitement to himself.

“I think she’s the soulmate of our client,” he replied, watching Rachel’s eyes widen, a grin to match his own creeping on his face. 

“Oh my god, not the one you’ve been…”

Rachel and Lance didn’t do secrets, at least, not from each other. 

Lance nodded excitedly and Rachel clapped her hand over her mouth, rocking on her feet.

Keith huffed next to him, and Lance remembered they were in a public place, “you told her?” he hissed, though there was no malicia in his voice.

“Does that really matter right now?” Lance didn’t care if Keith was disappointed in him, they’d found the soulmate, and it felt good.

Keith rolled his eyes as Rachel babbled, eyes bright with excitement. “I’ll go get her,” she said, closing the register, “she’s out back, or do you need to call your client first? _Is he going to come here!_ ”

“Chill!” Lance hushed, “We need to talk to Sophia first, make sure it’s her, and other legal stuff.”

“Okay, okay, okay, I’ll go get her,” she gave them one last excited smile and ran out towards the back.

~~~

Keith leaned against the wall of the small manager's room, watching as Lance calmly and expertly explained the situation to Sophia. They’d checked her marks, and they were certain that she was the right person. It was bizarre, the otherworldly feeling when he noticed the logo on the broken coffee machine, as Rachel turned to use their makeshift one, the way all the pieces fell into place in his mind. How it happened for Lance at the same time. Keith liked bringing people together, even if he didn’t like that happiness around him afterwards, he liked feeling useful, that just because he was soulless, it didn’t mean he was a complete mistake.

He’d never felt better about it than now, watching Lance smile as he called their client, handing the phone over to their soulmate so they could talk for the first time. Watching Lance nod enthusiastically when Sophia suggested their client pick her up from the café. Maybe it was because he hadn’t cheated as much, and so the victory was sweeter.

Or maybe because they had completed a case for the first time as a true unit, and Keith had gotten to watch Lance shine. 

Maybe that was when things changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think, here or at my tumblr @donttrusttheclogs, i love meeting new people so don't be shy! Love you all!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets a bit drunker than he means to on a Wednesday night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovelies!! This feels like a weird time to post, I'm in America right now visiting and it has been an experience (someone still needs to explain the imperial system to me it makes NO SENSE). Also, unlike everywhere else, I can't drink here, so writing a drunk chapter was me living vicariously through the boys. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

**Group: Lance, <unknown number>  
** Tuesday 16.43 [Lance]  
__ *spy voice activated*  
Tuesday 16.43 [Lance]  
__ meet at the bar at 530 hours  
Tuesday 16.43 [Lance]  
__ come alone  
Tuesday 16.52 [you]  
__ wtf  
Tuesday 16.52 [you]  
__ you know thats 5.30am right  
Tuesday 16.52 [Lance]  
__ keeeeiiiitttthhh, you gottaaaa plaayyyyy allloooonnggg  
Tuesday 16.53 [Lance]  
__ oh fuck, i meant 5.30pm  
Tuesday 16.54 [you]  
__ thats 1730 hours. And why should i?  
Tuesday 16.54 [Lance]  
__ cause its more fun that way! Hunk agrees with me!  
Tuesday 16.54 [unknown]  
__ I agree that you find it more fun.  
Tuesday 16.55 [Lance]  
__ /gasp/  
Tuesday 16.55 [Lance]  
__ top ten anime betrayals  
Tuesday 16.55 [Lance]  
__ my own best friend  
Tuesday 16.43 [Lance]  
__ how could you  
Tuesday 16.55 [Lance]  
__ :(

Lance did end up convincing them to arrive early, and then, true to form, was ten minutes late himself, leaving Keith alone at the booth with Hunk. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, Keith liked Hunk, he had the biggest heart of anyone Keith had ever met, Lance had come into work three times now from a night at Hunks, with enough food for both of them. And unlike Lance, Hunk was okay with comfortable silence, he didn’t have to fill the room with useless chatter every moment of the day, though Keith did admit he had grown accustomed to Lance’s talking, especially since Lance seemed to understand not to push Keith to talk back.

Therefore, it was obviously Lance’s fault that Keith was making small talk with Hunk, talking about the storm forecast for the weekend, cases that he and Lance had worked that week, and how the kitchens at the bar worked. It was more talking than he’d done with someone he didn’t know well in a very long time, and he was finding it surprisingly easy. That is until one of his lies caught up to him.

“Lance mentioned you were into botany,” Hunk said with a wide smile, “I love gardening!”

Keith froze, wishing the floor would open up on him, “oh uh… he did?” Keith stumbled, trying desperately to remember exactly what he’d told Lance about his ‘interest’ in plants. I uh… yeah, I am… I don’t grow much though… apartment building...”

He wasn’t completely unprepared, he’d read the books Adam had brought him, watched like three ten minute videos on youtube. He was as prepared as he thought he’d need to be when only Lance knew his lie. How was he supposed to know that Lance would tell  _ other _ people about their work. He was an idiot. But hopefully what he’d learned would be enough to satisfy Hunk.

“Oh!” Hunk said, Keith tried to make eye contact like Shiro had taught him to do when faced with a difficult social situation, but it was hard when it felt like Hunk was looking right through him. So Keith stared at Hunk’s yellow bandana instead, focussing on the yellow fabric, trying not to fiddle with his gloves under the table. Even if Hunk could see through this lie, it didn’t mean he would  _ know _ . There was no reason to think he would be able to see that. “Do you want to come and plant some at my place? We have a rooftop garden that anyone is allowed to use and I’ve been fighting off the stoners alone, I’d love a teammate!”

Keith honestly didn’t know how to say no when Hunk looked at him like that, so hopeful, so trusting, it filled Keith’s mouth with a bad taste.

“Uh…I...” he tried to say.

“You can only really plant small vegetation and flowers but it’s still a lovely spot! Do you have anything you like to plant?”

A plant. He needed the name of a plant. Any plant.

“The… the red ones,” he stuttered, and Hunk’s smile retreated somewhat.

Keith was saved from further destruction by Lance slamming his hands on the table, making Keith jump back. His eyes widening further as he took in Lance’s appearance. Dressed in the pastel blues, pinks and purples he looked like a walking faerie, complete with matching swirls of glittery facepaint, gemmed blue gloves, and small wire wings that looked like they’d been designed for a little kid. He also had what seemed like a bucket of glitter that had been just dumped over his head by the way he was literally sparkled in the light of the bar.

“Woah!” Keith couldn’t take his eyes off Lance. “What... are you wearing?”

Lance glanced down at himself, seeming to have forgotten his entire appearance, and shrugged.

“Oh, my niece wanted a dancing faeries party for her birthday so Rachel and I helped out.”

“Oh yeah!” Hunk said, and Keith tried to think if Lance had mentioned this to him. “how did it go?”

“Great!” Lance’s eyes lit up, “This little brat, Christiana, tried to blind me with glitter bombs, but then she gave Rachel and I this amazing idea for our new choreography and we’re going to try and implement it on Saturday.”

Keith hadn’t full processed the information Lance had rambled off before the blue eyed boy was, once again, slapping his palms against the table, “But that is not the reason I gathered you here today!” Lance cried, before dropping down low on his hands, elbows and ass sticking out. His voice turning to a low whisper, “We are here to discuss Operation Heeyaw.”

Hunk snorted as Keith’s eyebrows disappeared into his fringe. “Operation what?”

“Operation Heeyaw, pay attention cadet this is important!”

“What the fuck is a heeyaw?”

Lance heaved a sigh, levelling a look at Keith, “It’s like yeehaw, but in code.”

Lance said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Keith was still very lost, but it felt like this would go quicker if he stopped arguing.

“So as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted,” Lance slid into the seat beside Hunk, squinting at Keith who just rolled his eyes, crossing his hands across his chest. “It’s Pidge’s birthday in two weeks, our little Pigeon is leaving the nest of their early twenties and free falling into the despair of mid-twenties with the rest of us. And as always, they are a pain in the butt to buy for.”

“Are they?” Keith cut in again, he’d never struggled too much buying Pidge presents. Get them a sci-fi poster or collectable and you are pretty much set.

“Shut the fuck up, Keith,” Lance said without skipping a beat, Keith gave him the finger but Lance didn’t acknowledge it, “and so I thought we could pitch in and fly Alec in to surprise her.” 

“Dude, that sounds great!” Hunk clapped Lance on the back, “

“That's,” Keith started, intent on arguing, but then froze, “...actually not a bad idea.”

“Wow, no need to sound so surprised.”

“Lance, I have known you a little over a month and every single ‘coded operation’ you’ve demanded we do has been ridiculous.”

“How dare you! Operation Coffee Break last week was an absolute success.”

“Wasn’t that when you broke your coffee mug and so had to go to the front desk to ask for a new one?”

“Yeah! I had exactly seven minutes to get down the stairs and back up again before our next client showed and I completed the mission with seconds to spare.”

“You almost pushed the client down the stairs as you sprinted past!”

“Semantics,” Lance waved his hands, dismissing Keith’s point. “So are you in on operation heeyaw or not?”

Keith rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I’m in.”

“Great! She’s flying in on the 1st, any chance she can stay with you the first night?” Lance dropped that on him without warning, barely looking sheepish.

“Wait, what?” Keith spluttered, “Why can’t she stay with Hunk and Pidge?”

“Cause she’s coming in a day early, and if she stayed with Pidge it wouldn’t be a surprise, duh!”

“Why can’t she stay with you?!”

Lance demeanour dimmed and he glanced sidewards at Hunk. “Nyma, she’s not so fond of my friends staying with us…” Hunk got up from the booth without a word and headed towards the bar. Keith’s eyes followed him, his forehead creased to match his frown. It wasn’t the first time Keith had seen this sort of reaction from Hunk whenever Nyma was brought up, usually, it was a frown, or a curt smile that didn’t reach his eyes. This was more, a lot more. And Keith wasn’t the only one who noticed, Lance scowled at the table as his best friend walked away, mumbling an excuse Keith didn’t understand 

Keith didn’t know what to say. He felt like an intruder, stealing a glance at a private moment. Keith wasn’t good at talking about feelings, reading the room, saying the  _ right _ thing. So instead he said something distracting, something to draw Lance away from whatever thoughts were whirlpooling in his mind.

“Why did you call it yeehaw, or hawyee or whatever word you came up with.”

Keith ignored how his heart sped up at the soft smile Lance gave him, as he rolled his eyes. “It’s heeyaw, get with the program. And it’s cause Alec is Texan, obviously.”

“She is?” 

“You didn’t know that?”

“I don’t really know much about Alec.” Keith replied quietly. It was entirely his fault that he never got to know Pidge’s soulmate, and it was probably the biggest mistake of his life. Maybe this meant he’d get a second chance with Alec as well.

“Alec is a heathen!” Hunk said firmly as he sat down again, causing Lance to snort beside him.

“What?”

“Alec is a heathen.” Hunk repeated, crossing his arm. “And she is not allowed near my tea.”

“I uh... That doesn’t make it clearer.”

Lance chuckled again, “Alec microwaves tea which, in Hunk’s eyes, is a capital offence.”

Keith frowned, “Who microwaves tea? It doesn’t brew right unless the water is boiling.”

“Yes, thank you!” Hunk waved his arm towards Keith.

“Okay, but seriously, before Hunk scares you,” Lance said, giving his friend a side glance. “Alec is actually one of the sweetest people ever, like once she sent me a care package of all my favourite snacks from home because she found out I was homesick because I missed my cousin’s wedding because of school. She’s also a great talker, like easily on my level, and is really thoughtful when you least expect it. And defensive as fuck, so I wouldn’t piss her off, or Pidge for that matter.”

Piss Alec off like abandoning Pidge just because they’d found their soulmate? Keith had a feeling his second chance with Alec wouldn’t be as smooth as his one with Pidge had been. Keith just nodded at Lance, and told him he’d have to think about Alec staying with him since his landlord was picky about guests. Lance began to reply but he was cut off by a squawk from the door.

“What the fuck!” It was amazing how Keith didn’t even have to turn around to know exactly who had shrieked like that. He shifted over as Pidge appeared beside him. “How are you all here before me, I’m not even late.”

Lance waved, a cheesy grin on his face, “Hi Pidge, can you get us a tray of shots for Keith and me while you're up there?”

“Wait, what?” Keith looked to his partner. 

“We’re getting drunk tonight,” Lance answered, not even looking at Keith, as though Keith had forgotten plans they’d made.  “What, no… why?”  

“Because neither of us has work tomorrow and I need the fun and you wouldn’t let your partner drink alone.”

Lance’s eyes widened, pouting at him. Not that Keith would ever admit it out loud, but Lance was really pretty like this, blue eyes shining bright, long eyelashes blinking it up at him, the swirls of blue and red glittery makeup glinting under the dim lighting. Lance was very pretty, and Keith was very gay. Not that he would  _ ever _ tell Lance that. Keith could feel his face heating up and he quickly ducked his head, thankful he hadn’t tied his hair back as it fell across his face.

“Sure,” he said, because apparently, he couldn’t say no to Lance, “but I’m not getting completely wasted.”

“Great!” Keith’s heartbeat picked up at the wide smile that spread across Lance’s face.  _ Get a fucking grip, this is pathetic. He has a soulmate. _

Pidge set a tray of brightly coloured shots on the table.

“I told Coran that they are coming out of your bill, not mine,” they grumbled, passing around everyone’s usual drinks.

“Why are they so bright?” Keith asked at the exact same time Lance exclaimed.

“OH MY GOD PINK SHOTS!”

Lance practically threw his phone at Keith, the yellow starting screen of snapchat shining up at him, “you have to snap me,” he said excitedly, rocking from side to side as he picked up two of the neon shots, one pink and the other purple.

Keith took the picture and Lance wrenched the phone out of his grasp, quickly typing in the caption. He frowned down at his contact list before looking up at Keith. “I don’t have your snapchat,” he stated.

“Probably because I don’t have one.”

Lance’s eyes blew comically wide as he gaped at Keith. “Keith!” he gasped as though Keith had just admitted to being a time traveller from the 17th century.

“What?”

“But then… How will you see my beautiful snaps!”

“I won’t.”

“But Keith!” Lance pouted, “You won’t get to see my beautiful face without snapchat!”

The snort that came from Keith was meant to be because he saw Lance’s beautiful face almost every day. However, from the insulted gasp that came from Lance, Keith knew exactly how the other boy had taken it. And well, it was much more fun not correcting him.

“Keith, how dare you!” Lance exclaimed, clasping his chest as he fell back against Hunk. “You wound me!”

“Oh no, I wonder if he’ll perish from his injury,” Pidge deadpanned, a lazy smile on their face, Lance poked his tongue out at them.

“I may, only the pink potion can save me!”

Keith darted his hand out and dragged the shot glasses down the table before Lance’s outstretched hand could reach them. “You mean these potions?” he brought one of the pink shots to his mouth, tipping it back he chuckled at the sweet tasting syrup masking the alcohol.

“Yeah I mean those ones—hey don’t take all the pink ones!” Lance cried, forgetting his mortal wounds as Keith shot back another of the pink drinks. “Keith!” Lance screeched, diving over Hunk as Keith reached for the last two pink shots, holding one in each hand away from Lance’s reach.

“I’m going to get some bottles of water,” Pidge said, eyeing the pair of them as they faced off. Keith barely noticed, holding Lance’s gaze as he threw back the glass. Lance squinted at him, lips curled into a snarl.

“I swear to—”

“What’s wrong Lance?” Keith cut in, “Don’t think you can keep up?”

Keith knew exactly what he was doing. It didn’t take much to bring out that side of Lance, the side that brought out that competitive glint in his eyes, a spark as Lance dragged the tray of shots back into the middle, taking two blue ones and chucking them back one after the other.

“Jesus Christ Lance, slow down, you are a lightweight!”

“I’m fiiiiine.”

A giggle bubbled out of Keith at Lance’s whine and he started down at the drink. That went to his head quicker than he expected.

“Oh dear god, you’re both lightweights aren’t you.”

Pidge returned with two jugs of water and four glasses, “Keith is less of a lightweight than Lance, but Coran just informed me that the pink shots are double the percentage.”

Keith glanced down at his glass, everything around him very funny he shrugged, “whoops.”

Hunk sighed as he pulled himself to his feet. “Your turn to watch them, I’m going to go make some snack food so they don’t die.”

Keith grinned at Pidge as they handed him a water bottle, simultaneously yanking the tray of shots away from Lance. “No more till Hunk gets back.” they snapped, throwing a water bottle at Lance that he less than gracefully caught.

“Drink,” they said, and with a giggle Keith sipped on the water, his hand sneaking across the table to where Pidge hand put the shots while Lance distracted them with a serenade. It was going to be a fun night.

~~~

In all the years they’d known each other, Pidge had seen Keith drunk more times than they could count. Pidge had  _ been _ drunk with Keith more times than they could count. It had been a tradition for them, everytime Shiro made them rewatch their therapy sessions to look for certain things they turned it into a drinking game, a drink every time Shiro said something positive. Honestly, Pidge did not remember much from those nights.

They did remember that Keith was a truthful drunk. Not in any deep ‘I don’t have a soulmate’ sort of way, but just that it loosened his tongue, broke down something in his mind that kept his thoughts at bay and babbled in a way that honestly resembled Lance. It could be hilarious, especially if you convinced him to watch bad movies, as Keith would get himself worked up over plot holes and dumb decisions and spend two hours yelling at the television in a less refined way that sober Keith would.

Pidge liked drunk Keith, he was the one who told her about Shiro’s hatred of spicy food, and the best way to sharpen a knife without a sharpening stone. He was the one who had really gotten them bonding, after weeks stuck in stoic silence unless Shiro had asked him a direct question. After a particularly stressful session Pidge had been angry at their brother for forcing them to do troubled teens, and angry at Shiro for expecting so much of them even though they didn’t deserve it. So they’d suggested Keith help them break into Adam’s liquor collection, and help them go through two of the bottles of wine stored there. They were young and inexperienced and the alcohol had knocked them off their feet, but it had also been the exact ice breaker they’d needed. Pidge had never looked back, cherishing Keith’s friendship until he’d abandoned them.

Coran had brought over some more of Hunk’s snack foods and asked them if they required anything else.

“No, I think we’ll be fine, thanks Coran,” Pidge said, giving him a tired smile. The boys had sobered up a little after the first hour of sneaking shots off the tray until there were none left, cradling their weaker drinks with drunken smiles and slurred conversations after Hunk had banned anymore.

“Great! Or as we would say back home, sweet as!”

Keith frowned at his drink as Coran walked away. “As what?” he mumbled.

“Huh?” Lance replied, his chin resting on the edge of his glass.

“Sweet as what?”

“Sweet as.”

“Yea, as what.”

“As sweet as.”

“Sweet as fuck?”

“No! Just sweet as.”

“What does that even mean!”

“It means sweet as!”

“Sweet as what!”

Pidge watched them bicker back and forth for ten fucking minutes as they waited patiently for Hunk to return so they could go and bash their head against the bathroom wall in peace. They were far too sober for this.

Though they could admit that it was nice to see Keith and Lance getting along. They’d been nervous at first, that their old friend and new would not be compatible. Lance and Keith were so different, in so many ways. It was a relief to see that, despite a rocky start, there was strong hope that the two of them would be close friends.

Though, as Pidge watched them share a mischievous glance before shoving sausage rolls into their pockets, they wondered if this was really a good thing.

~~~

Hunk and Lance met when they were seven years old. Their mothers ran a charity event together where both boys were forced to help out, one thing led to another and Lance, very publically, denounced Eleanor Lange as his best friend in favour of Hunk, and the rest is history.

During their many, many years of friendship, Hunk had only seen Lance drunk on three occasions. By drunk he means completely wasted, no returns, hundred percent hangover guarantee. The first time was their high school graduation party where goody two shoes Lance mistook the alcoholic lemonade for normal lemonade and ending up dancing on the table, much to their geography teacher’s distress. The second time was at a college party that Hunk honestly didn’t remember much of. Pidge had informed them the next day that Lance had played the lava game around the living room sofas for over an hour, ending up climbing the fireplace, screeching that he could feel the liquid death splashing against his ankles. Hunk had a feeling Lance had taken more than alcohol that night. The third time was at Lance’s first year anniversary with Nyma, Lance had stood on the table to make his anniversary speech in slurred spanish. Rachel had recorded the entire thing, not mentioning it to Lance until she played it at the next family gathering.

Lance had a theme. Hunk knew that Lance had a theme. Lance liked putting on a show sober, but give him enough alcohol and suddenly that show needed to be high.

He knew this, and yet, he still turned away while Pidge was in the bathroom and Keith and Lance were arguing about something he’d tuned out a long time ago when Coran called out his name. He walked to his boss, barely gone a moment. But that was all it took for Lance to swing around a chair from the table beside them and climbed onto it. Hunk watched in exasperation as Lance cupped his hands around his mouth and announced to all nine occupants of the bar.

“KEITH’S MULLET ISN’T THAT BAD AFTER ALL.”

Hunk rushed back to try and pull Lance down, but it was too late, instead, he watched in the esqe of a true horror film as Keith cried back “It’s not a mullet!” and moved to kick the leg of the chair. Lance laughed, then yelped as the rickety chair wobbled. Hunk watched Lance’s eyes widen, hand come out, as he fell in what felt like slow motion, right into Keith’s arms, sending them both crashing to the floor.

Hunk’s dash to their side slowed when he heard Keith’s laughter, saw Lance push himself up so he was holding himself over Keith. “We do make a good team don’t we mullet?” he joked, shoving himself to the side so he was lying beside Keith.

Hunk could see the genuineness of the smile on Lance’s face, it was different to the casual one he used for acquaintances, and no matter what Lance said, Hunk knew it meant that Keith had definitely earned his place in Lance's heart.

“Fuck yeah we do.”

~~~

“Coran, Coran the gorgeous man,” Lance sang as he approached the bar, “I think we need three,” Lance held up two fingers and frowned at them, “no not three, not three two! Two is the word!”

Keith giggled beside him, his arm linked with Lances as they held onto each other for support. 

This was not the first time Coran had seen Lance drunk, in the months that Hunk had been working at the bar Lance had been a regular occupant. They had all been intoxicated on more than one occasion, but thankfully they were smart kids, one of them always playing designated driver and taking care of the others.

“Two more shots please and thank you!” Lance said, smiling dopily at Coran.

“No!” Hunk screamed from the kitchen door and Keith ducked down to the floor, flinging Lance forward to grip the counter as he tried to hide beside the bar stool.

“Yes! Shots please!” Lance slurred, undeterred by Hunk’s scream.

“I think you should listen to your buddy Lance, my boy.” Coran replied slowly, hearing Hunk sigh as Lance jutted his lower lip at Coran.

“But but but!” Lance reached around blindly, and his hand resting on Keith’s hair he tugged at it, “Look at Keith’s face! He’s so soft you can’t say no to Keefy!” Keith popped up beside him, pouting as best he could.

When Shiro had asked Coran to keep an eye on Keith, this hadn’t been what he’d expected. Allura had told him about both of these boys, had complained about them, called them the height of the soulmate industry and told him that if they’d been cadets under her command she’d have them running laps until they learned to work as a team.

“Hm,” Coran twirled his moustache. “How about this, if you can answer one question I’ll get you the shots,”

“Okay!” Lance perked up, “We’re ready! Right Keith? Ready! Super ready!!”

Keith nodded enthusiastically, standing at attention.

Coran smiled at them, “what’s four plus seven?”

Keith’s answer was immediate and without hesitation. “Thirty nine!” he cried and Lance had to catch the counter as he doubled over with laughter.  
  
“What,” he started between pants of laughter, “the actual fuck, man,” Lance seemed unable to finish his thought. He looked up at Keith with tears in his eyes and it sent Keith over the edge, giggling manically alongside him. 

Coran sighed, and filled two shot glasses with blue gatorade, sliding them across the table with a wink to Hunk. “Drink up boys.”

~~~

Lance and Keith sat on either side of the booth, Keith was slumped over, his chin resting on his arms as he stared dazely up at Lance who was humming Drops of Jupiter as he swayed back and forth. His arms flowed in small movement, a conductors dance in time with the music, nothing to grand, yet sweet all the same. 

Keith was mesmerised, the alcohol clouding his thoughts so all he could feel was Lance, Lance, Lance.    
  
See him move, swaying to his own melody no matter what song was actually playing. Hear his voice, the way he said Keith's name. Feel him, Lance's hand in his at the cemetery, the feeling of him pressed against Keith when he’d fallen on him, so close he could feel Lance's breath against his cheek. The smell of perfumes and flowers and peppermint that Keith had come to notice, to appreciate. Keith didn’t know what Lance tasted like, but god, he wanted to. He wanted to lean across the bar and kiss every piece of glitter across Lance's cheeks, brush his lips over his freckles, across his eyelid, his neck, and finally, Keith would find Lance's lips. He could practically taste them now, soft and sweet but with that same passion Lance put into everything he did. 

Lance was intoxicating.

"You're pretty," Keith murmured, too dazed to realise he'd said it out loud. That is until he realised Lance had stopped humming and was staring at him curiously, a sheen over his eyes.

"Pretty what?"   
  
"Huh?"   
  
There was a dull thud beside Keith as Pidge’s forehead hit the table.    
  
"I'm pretty what?"   
  
"No just pretty," Keith raised a hand and gestured to Lance's face. "You're pretty. In a totally gay way, I think you’re super fucking pretty."   
  
If Keith had looked to the side he would’ve seen the shared glance between Hunk and Pidge, the worried lines etched into Pidges forehead as they studied their best friend. Would’ve seen the way Hunk's shoulders sagged, his eyes turning sad.   
  
But Keith wasnt looking at Pidge or Hunk. Keith was locked onto Lance, who had blinked once at him, his mouth forming a small 'o' as he stared. Then a smile broke out on his face, wide and alive, bubbly laughter coursing through Lance.    
  
Lance turned into Hunk, resting his head against the big guy's shoulder.   
  
"Did you hear that Hunk? Keith thinks I'm pretty."  
  
Lance giggles again, and Keith smiles into his drink, loving the swell in his chest that came with the knowledge that lance was smiling because of him.

~~~

Keith woke with a killer headache and the urge to vomit. He rolled to the left, to where his door would be, refusing to open his eyes. He lets out a groan as he hit a wall that shouldn’t be there. Where the fuck was he? This was why he didn’t drink.

Keith flipped over, cringing against the light streaming through the window, but thankful to find his phone sitting on the bedside table next to a familiar photo of him, Adam and Shiro at the beach for Keith’s 17th birthday. So this was Shiro’s place. How the fuck did he get to Shiro’s place? He grabbed his phone, it opened straight to his text chain with Shiro.

**Chat: Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)  
** Wednesday, 18.31 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
__Hey, let me know if you are still up for dinner tomorrow night.  
Wednesday, 18.31 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
__I know you have the night off  
Wednesday, 19.36 [you]  
__Shirooooo  
Wednesday, 19.36 [you]  
__I aawnna  
Wednesday, 19.51 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
__Keith? Are you okay?  
Wednesday, 20.21 [you]  
__Fuxking specaugalr  
Wednesday, 20.24 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
__Are you drunk?  
Wednesday, 20.29 [you]  
__Yaaassff  
Wednesday, 20.30 [you]  
__So dunrk  
Wednesday, 20.30 [you]  
__WITH LSANCE  
Wednesday, 20.31 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
__I see, drink some water, stay safe.  
Wednesday, 21.41 [you]  
__Did you u kwno lanc is awesme  
Wednesday, 21.42 [you]  
__Hea so pretyy and sweet nad goo  
Wednesday, 21.43 [you]  
__ANS SSPARKLU  
Wednesday, 21.43 [you]  
__Eh meade me sparkles  
Wednesday, 21.49 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
__Keith, please tell me one of you is sober  
Wednesday, 21.58 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
__Keith?  
Wednesday, 22.10 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
__Keith answer your damn phone.  
Wednesday, 22.14 [you]  
__Hey Shiro, this is Pidge, Keith is okay  
Wednesday, 22.15 [you]  
__Me and another of our friends are sober  
Wednesday, 22.15 [you]  
__We’re all leaving now do you want us to bring him to you? Hes welcome to stay with us  
Wednesday, 22.16 [Walking Inspirational Poster (ICE)]  
__Yes, bring him here. Thank you Pidge!  
Wednesday, 22.16 [you]  
__No worries, see you soon

Keith groaned, trying to piece together the night before. He sat up, groaning again as his entire body ached like he’d been bowled over. He looked at himself, frowning at the abnormal amount of glitter on his clothing. Then he remembered.

_ “KEITH’S MULLET ISN’T SO BAD AFTER ALL!” _

Lance screaming. Lance falling into his arms, pressed against him from neck to toes. Keith groaned again, flopping back onto the bed, blood creeping up his face at just the memory of how close Lance had been. The feeling of him against him. The way Lance had grinned. He’d called them a good team. Keith closed his eyes again, Lance’s smile playing on repeat in his mind.

Keith felt himself smile, he felt endorphins rush through him as that image played again and again in his mind. Keith’s eyes snapped open. Oh no.

No.

This was bad.

This was very bad.

Keith’s spiral was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Keith?” Adam’s voice drifted through, “There’s eggs and bacon on the table if you’re up for it.” 

Keith groaned in response, rolling his eyes at Adam’s responding chuckle.

He pulled up his phone, scrolling through the chat with Shiro again, wondering if Shiro had been able to understand the confession Keith had made, when his phone buzzed with another message from, Keith frowned at his phone, ‘ _ Loverboy Lance.’ _

Today, 11.12 [Loverboy Lance]  
__ i hope ur feeling as shit as i am  
Today, 11.13 [Loverboy Lance]  
__ i slept in my fucking fairy wings

Keith rolled his eyes.

Today, 11.13 [you]  
__Well im currently covered in glitter thanks to you, it’s going to take me years to get this shit out of my clothes  
Today, 11.15 [Loverboy Lance]  
__wtf do you mean thanks to me?  
Today, 11.15 [you]  
__Well you are the one who jumped on me  
Today, 11.15 [Loverboy Lance]  
__what?  
Today, 11.15 [you]  
__You said my mullet wasn’t that bad and then fell into my arms  
Today, 11.16 [Loverboy Lance]  
__fake news  
Today, 11.16 [Loverboy Lance]  
__your mullet is awful

Keith sat up again frowning at his phone. Lance had to remember it. This couldn’t be just his embarrassment.

Wednesday, 11.18 [you]  
__But we had a bonding moment!!  
Wednesday, 11.18 [you]  
__I cradled you in my arms!  
Wednesday, 11.18 [you]  
__You said we make a good team!  
Wednesday, 11.20 [Loverboy Lance]  
__nope dont remember, didnt happen

Keith huffed, chucking his phone across the room, wincing at the bang it made against the door. He pulled himself to his feet as it buzzed again. Another message from Lance.

Wednesday, 11.21 [Loverboy Lance]  
__thanks for last night though  
Wednesday, 11.21 [Loverboy Lance]  
__i really needed it  
Wednesday, 11.23 [Loverboy Lance]  
__youre a good friend Keith

Keith sighed, though he couldn’t stop the small smile creeping on his face.    


He really was fucked.

~~~

Lance was prepared when he entered his parent’s house, bending his knees he let the door swing wide with his keys still in them and opened his arms ready for the two small, yet surprisingly strong, kids to barrel into him.

"TIO LANCE!

"How come I never get screaming hugs," Rachel teased as she came in behind him. 

"Cause I'm their favourite!" Lance sang back, even as Nadia peeled herself off of him to go hug his twin.  
  
"Tio! Tio! Mami said you would take us to the circus next week!"  
  
"Oh," Lance said shakily, circuses had always been a place of nightmares for him, rather than wonders. "Did she now?"  
  
"No Sylvio!" Nadia said sternly, pulling her brother away from lance, "Mami said we had to ask him first!"

“I did ask him!”

“You did not! You just told him!”

“Mami!” Sylvio screamed, “Nadia says I didn’t ask him when I did!”

“He did not!” 

“I DID!”

“NO”

“MAMI!”

The kids scampered from the room as fast as they came in, just as Marco appeared at the door, “Hey shitheads,” he said, pulling both Lance and Rachel into a hug, “How’s it going?”

“Good,” Rachel replied, “I destroyed Lance in warmups so he’s doing washup today.”

Lance grimaced at the two of them, “I let her win.”

“Sure you did Lancey,” Marco laughed, ruffling his hair.

Lance ducked away from him and headed to the kitchen, waving to Veronica as he passed her in the hallway.

Lance kissed his Mami when he walked into the kitchen, standing straight so she could eye him up and down for anything that could be bothering him before letting her put the chopping tray and vegetables in his hands. “Chop into squares, mija **.** ” 

Lance loved this part of family gatherings, catching up with his Mami over food, they’d shared a love for it for as long as Lance could remember and it was the only thing they had that was purely  _ theirs _ .

“How did your rehearsal go?” She scraped the beef into the pan, stirring as it began to sizzle.

“It was okay, Rachel was a bit distracted so we struggled with some of the new moves, we’re going to try again tomorrow.” Lance replied, trying to not let the hurt he’d felt when Rachel wouldn’t share what had been distracting her with him show through his voice.

It had been years since his mami commented on this tactic, but Lance still wasn’t sure if this was because she actually didn’t hear it, or because she wanted to give him his privacy on these matters.

“Make sure you have lots of carbs then,” she passed him an extra bag of the bakery bread rolls to make her point. Lance gratefully took one, biting into the decedent bread.

“And how is it going with your new partner?”

Lance didn’t answer at first. He’d been avoiding Keith since the morning after their drunken night. He felt kind of bad about it honestly, especially since he remembered the entire night, the bonding moment included. His chicken response of a text had been an outright lie. A lie he didn't really understand, it’s not like he and Keith had done anything wrong. Lance remembered and had no reason for lying other than the truth made him guilty, like he and Keith had discovered something they shouldn't have, and now they had to keep it locked away, or face dire consequences.

“Better,” Lance admitted, which was true, their drunken night, as well as the last two weeks, had definitely proved that things between him and Keith were better. If someone asked him he would happily call Keith a friend, even if he was still holding that damn source so tightly to his chest. He and Keith were better, and they certainly made a good team, on and off work.

So why did he feel like he had to lie about it? 

“We solved a case for Damien Sandover this week,” Lance said, delighting in the way his mother shrieked a little.

“Oh my god! The Damien Sandover? Love of your life since  _ The Castles of Sartopia, _ Damien Sandover?”

“The one and only. God I swear he’s more gorgeous in real life.”

“And you and Keith were able to work your magic for him?”

“You bet! Though, perhaps not the magic either of us really wanted to,” Lance smirked, thinking about how it would feel to have  _ that _ body pressed up against him. The actor was on his cheat list after all, he was allowed a little fantasy.

His Mami chuckled beside him, giving him a small shove in mock scolding.

“Speaking of magical connections,” his Mami pressed, “is Nyma here?”

Again Lance hesitated, then sighed, “No, something came up.”

His Mami hummed, that short hum that meant she was disappointed but didn’t want you to know she was disappointed. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, just something with Rolo.”

“I see.”

“Mami, it’s fine.”

“Hm.”

“More garlic knots for us!”

“I know.”

“Mami please,” Lance slumped his shoulders, willing her to drop it. He knew that it wasn’t Nyma’s best move to ditch dinner again, and he probably should’ve told his family when he got that call during coffee with Keith. But he’d be secretly hoping she’d reconsider, and he wouldn’t have to deal with his family’s disapproving side glances.

“I will go set the table,” she said, making a point of leaving one plate and set of cutlery behind as she did so.”

Honestly, Lance understood her frustration. _He_ was frustrated. This wasn’t the first time Nyma had flaked on him and his family, it was a bit ridiculous how many gatherings she’d missed, and how many he’d missed because of her. Lance would never forget the photos of his cousin’s wedding that he’d only missed so he could help Nyma study for her finals.

He stirred the pot, bringing the thick sauce to a boil before taking it off the heat and adding the fresh spices, brushing off the few that stuck to his soulmarks. He and Luis were the only ones out of his siblings who’d found their soulmates, and only Lance had wished to use the agency. Luis had met Lucy when they first moved to America, she’d been his student helper the first day of their senior year and they’d had a romance that was only beaten by Lance’s own parents.

It was straight out of a fanfiction, they’d met as toddlers in a grocery store, a quick brush past had activated their marks and neither had noticed until it was too late and they were separated. They didn’t find each other again until they were well into their twenties and attending a ball celebrating a collab between the mechanical engineering and the humanitarian departments, where they met fighting over the last garlic knot. They talked and danced and finally, after a few drinks Lance’s Papi had confessed that he had lost his chance with his soulmate, and then his Mami had confessed the same thing and it was like fate had given them a second chance.

Lance was the only one of his siblings who still loved hearing that story, but he’d always been the one most in love with the idea of soulmates, and the most impatient to find his. The slot at the soulmate agency had been his graduation present from his parents, and Lance had been grateful for it every day of his life since. Even if Nyma wasn’t everything he’d imagined, she was still his, and he was hers and their love was all that mattered in the end.

Lance helped his Mami carry the food out into the dining room, placing it on the long wooden table that, despite its impressive size, was only just big enough to place the entire McClain clan comfortably. Lance took his normal seat but was surprised to find Rachel seated, not beside him like she usually would, but across the table beside Veronica, who she was giving small smiles that Lance didn’t understand. He inclined his head to the side when she finally looked to him, but she just waved away his silent question.  _ Later _ she implied and Lance nodded, confused but trusting that Rachel would spill the beans when they had time alone.

Lance listened to his Mami’s traditional speech, watched his Papi try not to fall asleep through it and heard Nadia whisper questions to her own mother about what certain words meant.

It was good to be home.

Lance reached for the handle for the garlic knots first, but Rachel, seated a new advantage was quicker, winking as she snatched up the most burnt one that they always fought over.

“Hmpf,” he pouted and turned pointiedly away from his twin to Lisa. “So what is this about a circus?”

Luis chuckled lightly as the kids visibly perked up in their seats. Lance’s brother knew exactly how he felt about clowns. “So it’s an animal circus,” Lisa started, “Next Thursday evening, our babysitter was meant to take them but she broke her tailbone and we have no one else to ask.”

Lance fidgeted beneath the table, feeling the eyes of the kids on him. He knew he could decline and his brother and his mate wouldn’t be upset with him. But he also hated disappointing people. And it wasn’t as though he wasn’t free, he had nothing planned aside from a lifelong fear of clowns sneaking into his room while he sleeps and cutting his throat.

“It’s our anniversary,” Luis implored, sensing Lance’s hesitation. He sighed.

“I’ll talk to Nyma tonight, if she can go I’ll take them.”

“Thank you,” Lisa said, over the children’s cheers.

The rest of dinner went as it always did, never a quiet moment, Lance and Marco making bets to how many servings of the kids mac and cheese Luis could sneak before their Mami noticed, Veronica explained in the vaguest of details her new project at NASA and Rachel commenced a very loud game of ‘what animal am I?’ with Nadia and Sylvio.

Finally, after all the plates had been cleared, their Papi announced that they should move the conversation somewhere more comfortable when Veronica stood from her seat.

“Wait,” her gaze swept the room, though she met none of their eyes, “I have to tell you all something first.”

Veronica took a shaky breath, glancing down at Rachel who took a shaking hand in her own, nodding up at Veronica. Lance had never seen his sisters like this, not when he didn’t know the reason why.

Veronica straightened, lifting her chin as she looked their parents in the eyes. “Axca and I are getting married.”

The room fell into a shocked silence.

“But, Ronnie,” their Papi said softly, he was the only one allowed to call her that, “You haven’t met your soulmate yet.”

Veronica clenched her left fist, hiding her soulmarks from view. She and Axca had been a thing for years now, on and off since high school, Veronica had mostly kept it out of the family’s eye. It wasn’t usual, to be with someone who wasn’t your soulmate, it had been growing more common, youths who would experiment with love and sexuality before they met their happily ever after, but for the most part, it was just a temporary thing. It wasn’t endgame. That’s what they figured Axca was to Veronica, a phase, a friend with benefits, eye candy for family events. Not something to be taken seriously.

“I don’t love my soulmate Papi, I love Axca.”

Apparently, they’d been reading it very wrong. Lance didn’t understand it, he didn’t understand how anyone, who had the choice, could choose anyone but their soulmate. It felt like a spit in the face to people like Keith, who lost their soulmates, who didn’t even get the chance. It’s literally a person, chosen  _ by the universe _ to be the most important person in your life. How could anyone not want that?

Lance had nothing against Axca, he thought she was a great woman, a great match for Veronica, but she wasn’t her perfect match. Her perfect match was out there somewhere completely unaware that their soulmate was actively choosing someone else, before they even had all the options.

“Lucy, can you take the kids upstairs,” their Mami said calmly, too calmly. Lucy nodded, too afraid to break the silence that had befallen and lead her children up the stairs.

“Veronica,” their Mami started, the soft Abuelita voice gone, only her firm Mami voice remaining, one that all the McClain kids were intimately knowledgeable on, and that none of them ever wanted to hear. “You should meet your soulmate before you make any rash decisions like this. We will go through the agency like we did for Lance, he works there now, it will be even easier.”

“No.” Veronica stared down Mami, their eyes locked, “I don’t know my soulmate. I don’t love my soulmate. They don’t know me, they weren’t the one who was here when Sarah died, they didn’t come to my matches, they weren’t there when I was told I may never play again, they aren’t here now. Axca is. Axca is my future.”

“Veronica,” the room turned to Lance, “this is selfish, Keith is incredible, we can find your soulmate so fast you wouldn’t—”

“Lance, shut up,” Rachel snapped, and Lance understood why she’d chosen to sit next to Veronica. She’d known. She’d known and hadn’t told him. She was letting Veronica be so selfish. Her poor soulmate.

Veronica sighed. “You don’t need to understand it, I honestly don’t expect you to.” She looked around the room. “This is my choice. I am marrying Axca, with or without your approval.” She stepped away from the table and left the room. Rachel threw Lance once last look of disdain before following.

Their Mami huffed. “Luis, would you pass the wine please.”

~~~

Lance found Rachel on the balcony that connected their two rooms. There had been a separating screen when they first moved in, but they had insisted that it be removed when their parents started renovating the house. They’d always been so close, a team against the rest of their siblings, the babies of the house, they told each other everything. Well, apparently not everything.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Lance said, leaning against the balcony ledge on his side. He turned to his twin as she let out a short bark of a laugh, ready to fight over why she could possibly think this was funny.

“Well considering your reaction,” she hissed before he could get another word in, her tone as venomous as her expression. “Can you really blame Veronica for not wanting you to know?”

“ _ My reaction? _ ” Lance stepped away opening his arms out in question. “My reaction was justified, she is being selfish!”

“For fuck’s sake Lance, what is wrong with you? This is the 21st century! Let her love who she wants to love!”

“Don’t tell me what century we’re in, I’m hip! I experimented in college and I’ve been in love before Nyma! But I knew that none of them were my soulmate! I didn’t live in a delusion that everything would be okay if i just gave up on the person who I was  _ meant _ to be with! What is Veronica going to achieve with this? She can’t get couple’s insurance, no lawyer would work with her when this sham of a relationship eventually falls apart! I’m just trying to look out for  _ our _ sister! Unlike you!”

“Her soulmate huh? Her  _ endgame _ ?” Rachel mocked the word. “Where’s your perfect match tonight then? You  _ assured _ me last week that she would be here, that she’d promised you she would come  _ this time _ . If she was so perfect for you she would  _ know _ how important these dinners are to you! But she doesn’t even try.”

 

“Stop it,” Lance snapped, but Rachel forged on.

“You aren’t looking out for Veronica! You are looking out for yourself because you can’t admit that Veronica and Axca are more happy than you and Nyma will ever be!”

“Shut up!” Lance yelled, heaving, “You don't know a damn thing about what it is to love your soulmate so shut the fuck up!”

Rachel huffed a laugh. “Fuck you Lance.” she walked back into her room, slamming the door shut, leaving Lance standing alone on the balcony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any questions or comments hit me up down below or on tumblr @donttrusttheclogs   
> Love you all!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance processes his sister's engagement announcement, and Keith and Pidge have a Talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know that game, where someone asks you where you would go if you had a time machine, and most people say to 1942 to kill Hitler, or to go buy microsoft stock when it was still cheap. If I had a time machine I would go back to February 22nd, 2019 and kick past me in the shins for thinking I could keep up with two fics at once. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy, sorry it's been so long.

Lance huffed into his Monday morning coffee as he watched Nyma pour her own into a travel cup and leave the apartment without so much as a goodbye.

He didn’t say anything because he knew he deserved it after his horrible performance the day before after she’d finally returned from whatever ‘adventure’ she and Rolo had been on. Whatever it was that was so important that not only did she skip his family gathering Saturday, but didn’t bother to come home at all until Sunday afternoon. 

It also didn't help his mood that he'd fallen asleep on the patio by the fairy lights and his back was stiff and skin all scratchy because he hadn't done his nightly routine. 

Staring at his blue uniform Lance was close to calling Allura and taking a sick day. But the thought of spending the entire day cooped up in his house with his thoughts was even worse than going out. So he put on the uniform and combed his hair and pulled out his eyeliner pencil because if he was going to feel like hell then he was going to look damn good while doing it.

Lance didn’t say a word as he stalked into the office, didn’t look at Keith, didn’t say thank you for the coffee on his desk, just sat down with a huff slumping into his chair. He didn’t look to see if Keith had noticed him enter, to see if those dark eyes were looking at him with worry for Lance’s obvious distress. Or perhaps noticed how sharp Lance was looking today.

He sat there for a moment in silence, waiting for Keith to ask him what his problem was just so he could say ‘none of your business’ in his face because that would make him feel better.

He waited fifteen whole seconds before he looked up at Keith, his scowl feeling more like a pout. Keith wasn’t even looking at him. Lance huffed again, louder this time. Keith didn’t pause, didn’t even act like he’d heard Lance. Lance huffed a third time staring angrily at Keith who wasn’t giving him the attention he craved. 

“Either tell me what’s wrong,” Keith said in a calm voice, not bothering to ever look up from the form he was signing, “or help me fill out these files.”

“It’s nice to know you care so much,” Lance muttered, crossing his arms. He knew this was petty, guilting Keith to give him attention. But it was worth it when Keith  _ finally _ stopped writing, and looked him in the eye. Though Lance’s victory was short lived when Keith levelled him an unimpressed look.

“I have dealt with enough attention seeking brats to know this game, Lance, if you want to talk to me I’m here. If you want me to hold your hand while you tell me to fuck off, I’d rather just keep working.”

Lance stared blankly at him for a moment as Keith continued to work. Lance grumbled under his breath as he dug around in his own bag for his pen and laid out the paperwork Keith had left for him. He had filled out this report a thousand times before, on any other day he could do it blindfolded but today the words ran together, the page blurring as his mind replayed Rachel’s words over and over, only breaking to add Nyma’s own cruel cries to the mix. The pen spun between practised fingers as Lance tried to block out the noise and force himself to concentrate.

It took barely ten minutes for him to give up, heaving a sigh he moved from his desk and sits in the chair across from Keith’s. Keith puts down his pen.

“It’s my sister.”

“Rachel?”

“No,” Lance shook his head, “Veronica, she’s a few years older than me and…” Lance paused, clicking his tongue, “and she’s getting married.”

Lance waited for that info to sink in, for Keith to agree with him that he should absolutely be very concerned about this, but Keith just cocked his head at him.

“Okay?” Keith said slowly, drawing out the vowel.

“To someone who isn’t her soulmate!” Lance continued, surely it would hit Keith. Lance needed Keith to agree with him, someone to agree with him.

“And?”

“And she’s marrying someone who isn’t her soulmate, that’s the story, she’s being selfish and impractical and I’m being treated like a villain for pointing it out.” Lance spat, gesturing wildly with his arms, frustrated by Keith’s lack of response.

Keith hesitated, looking away from Lance to the photo frame, that Lance knew was Keith and his brother, his hands fidgeting with his gloves over the table. Lance couldn’t read his expression at all, the way his mouth pursed then relaxed, unblinking as he flexed his fingers. 

Keith clenched his fists again and looked back at Lance, his dark eyes swirling with guarded emotion. “Why is it so wrong to date outside your soulmate?” 

_ Why was _ —Oh.  _ Oh.  _ Oh fuck, he’d forgotten. Keith’s soulmate… Lance was a horrible person. 

“No no no!” Lance backtracked, shaking his head and waving his arms in front of him, “It’s not like that, it’s  _ different _ , Veronica hasn’t even bothered to meet her soulmate. She’s getting married with empty mark—”

“What the fuck do you mean by that?” Keith’s tone changed so fast that Lance froze looking at the man across from him as he gripped the pen back in his hands so hard Lance thought it might break.

“What?”

“What do you mean it’s different?” Keith’s breathing had grown shallow, and each of his words sounded as though they were difficult to voice.

Oh... He didn’t know. Keith didn’t know that Pidge had told him. This conversation was a train wreck.

“Lance.” Keith snapped. 

“I… Pidge told me, about your…” Lance gestured half-heartedly at Keith’s hands, the marking’s he kept hidden beneath them, the markings that were just a reminder of everything Keith had lost. “Keith I—”

Lance didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence, Keith was up and out the door before he could yell for him to stop. Before he got a chance to fix it.

Lance flopped forward, his head in his hands over Keith’s desk. Why did he keep hurting the people he cared about? It had taken so long to get on Keith’s good side, what if this ruined it all?

He huffed a sigh and reached for the phone. The least he could do was warn Pidge, and then get started on the insane amount of paperwork Keith had left for him to do alone.

~~~

Keith’s fist pounded against the door, his motorcyclist helmet in one hand. He couldn’t believe Pidge had told him. Pidge had  _ told  _ Lance. God. It made so much sense, why Lance had so suddenly back off about talking about Nyma, why he’d been so quick to agree to the gloves. Fucking hell he knew.

Somewhere at the back of his mind, a voice was saying,  _ he knew and didn’t push him away. _

In fact, they were closer than ever.

But that didn’t matter right now. Pidge had still told Lance his biggest secret. Pidge who should’ve known better. Who knew Keith, knew how he was about this. What attention his secret had attracted in the past.

_ Soulless _ .

Pidge had barely opened it a crack before Keith was pushing his way in.

“Come on in, Keith,” they murmured, jumping out of the way before the door crushed them against the kitchen counter.

“You told him,” Keith growled, throwing his helmet on the couch as he swung back around on Pidge who stood with their arms crossed in front of them. Anger kept burning through him as he stared at Pidge, at the lack of remorse on their face. “You told him that I’m—” Keith choked on the word. “That I’m—”

“I told him,” Pidge interrupted, “and Hunk, that your soulmate died when you were young.”

And just like that, the fire went out. “What?” Keith breathed.

“It was the easiest way to get him to back down,” Pidge shrugged, “Without telling him the truth, of course.”

Keith’s world slowed, processing their words through the thick smoke the wildfire had left in his mind. He sat back onto the couch and looked at his friend. 

“He doesn’t know Keith.” Pidge sat down beside him, covering his hand with their own.

“You didn’t have that right,” Keith murmured, willing his hands to stop shaking. Lance didn’t know. But it didn’t change the fact that Pidge had told him.

“What?”

Keith looked up at them, “You didn’t have the right to tell him anything!” he said, louder this time. He could feel that anger sparking again. He also felt the cold absence of that voice that had told him Lance accepted him.

“Keith,” Pidge said slowly, talking to him like he was a child who didn’t understand. “It was the best option, if I hadn’t told him—”

“That’s not your choice to make Pidge!” Keith ran his hands through his hair, breathing deeply, counting in his head in the way Shiro taught him to control his anger. He understood Pidge’s choice and why they made it. They’d always been one to make calculated choices, to disregard someone's feelings if said choice was for their own good. But it didn’t make it okay. This wasn’t okay.

“It’s my choice who I tell, and what I tell them.” Pidge opened their mouth to argue but Keith was quicker, saying through gritted teeth, “I understand your intentions. But you still told Lance  _ something _ , and then you didn’t fill me in on it afterwards! You of all people should know better than this!”

Keith remembered Pidge’s parent’s reactions when they came out as nonbinary. And he was sure Pidge was remembering it too.

Pidge bit their lip, looking extra wide-eyed through the glasses Keith knew they didn’t need. “I didn’t think of it like that.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“I was just doing what I thought was best. It meant he wouldn’t keep hounding you about it.”

“ _ I know _ , but what if he caught your lie? What if someone else heard? What if a hundred other things Pidge. This is serious!” Keith sighed, “You  _ know _ that not everyone is as okay with this as you are, what I’ve been through because of who I am. My own parents didn’t want me! You have to understand it was  _ my _ life you were risking.”

“You’re right, and I’m sorry,” Pidge admitted, scooting closer towards Keith, who was waiting for the ‘but’. “But Keith, surely you know by now that Lance isn’t like that. Why don’t you just… tell him?”

“It’s not that simple. He’s obsessed with the idea of soulmates. This might not be okay.”

He knew it wasn’t likely. Even after their conversation this morning, Keith knew it wasn’t likely that Lance would turn on him. But… even the thought of it, of Lance flinching away from him,  _ that word  _ on Lance’s lips.

“Lance can be dumb, but he’s not he’s not actually an idiot,” Pidge argued, “he’s not going to turn his back on you for something like this.”

“I can’t risk it,” he looked at Pidge, implored them to understand. To know that this was  _ different _ .  _ Lance _ was different.

“Because it would break your heart if he rejected you?”

Keith didn’t insult their intelligence by denying it, he wasn’t surprised they’d picked up on it, he’d practically screamed it in his texts with Shiro. Keith was just thankful Lance hadn’t picked up on it yet.

“I know it’s hopeless.”

Pidge didn’t pity him enough to argue. They just shrugged, giving Keith a sad smile.

“Lance has loved Nyma before he even met her. Hunk and I aren’t her… biggest fans, but I can’t imagine him with anyone else. He’s happy.”

Keith just nodded. He knew this. He knew that his crush had no future, that Lance would never love him back. It still hurt to hear someone else say it, and the thought of going back to work to face Lance, after storming out, Keith wasn’t looking forward to it.

Pidge, as they had many times before, came to his rescue.

“Want to order Chinese for lunch?” Pidge scooted closer, “We can watch a dumb student film and point out all the plot holes.”

Keith smiled back at them. He supposed he could put off work, and Lance, for a bit longer.

~~~

Keith opened the door, balancing the tray of coffees he’d picked up on the way back in one hand. He’d gotten Lance’s favourite, the one he said he only ordered on a blue moon because it was so expensive. And  _ it was _ , who pays $8.72 for a fucking coffee.

“Lance—” Keith started to say but stopped quickly when he saw Lotor standing across from Lance’s desk, his long white hair braided down his back.

“Here he is sir!” Lance said, standing abruptly, gesturing to Keith. “Told you he would be here soon, that accident on the highway would never stop him!” 

“Hm,” Lotor raised an eyebrow at the coffees in Keith’s hands. “Nice of you to join us Mr Kogane. Allura informed me of your great work with Damien Sandover and I came to personally extend my congratulations. I am very pleased with your efforts.”

“Thank you, sir,” Keith said, straightening under Lotor’s scrutinising stare, “we make a good team.”

Lance smiled a big lopsided smile at Keith, a dopey grin that made the butterflies that had settled somewhat in Keith’s stomach roar to life. Keith ignored the feelings and returned with his own smile because what else was he meant to do?

Lotor hummed, looking between them and asked, “You are aware that interoffice relationships are frowned upon in this company?”

“What no!” Lance said quickly as Keith felt his traitor face flush. This was the second person to mistake them for a couple. “Absolutely not.”

Lotor raised a single delicate eyebrow at him. Keith couldn’t help but feel intimidated by the man, but not in the same way Allura intimidated him, Lotor was just creepy. “You were unaware?”

“No!” Lance half-shouted, taking a step back and almost tripping over his own chair. “I mean I was aware, actually no that’s not true I wasn’t aware, but Keith and I aren’t, we aren’t in a relationship, I have a soulmate!” Lance rambled, holding his bare hand up in Lotor’s face, the yellow marks showing clearly.

“I see,” Lotor replied, though he sounded unconvinced, “Keep up the good work, and next time,” he frowned at Keith, “check the traffic before doing a coffee run.”

Lotor left the room and Keith and Lance stood in eerie silence until the door clicked shut. Lance groaned, slumping back in his seat and Keith laughed.

“Thanks a lot for the save,” Lance said sarcastically, glaring at Keith through his hands.

“Well,” Keith teased with a shrug, “you were doing so well on your own.”

Lance rolled his eyes, but a small smile was hardly hidden, that is, until he looked at the coffee in Keith’s hands.

“Look man,” Lance stood again, leaning on his desk, “I’m really sorry about earlier, I should have told you when I found out. And you shouldn’t blame Pidge, they only told me to stop me from having a brawl with you in the middle of a car park. They didn’t want you to get hurt.”

Keith knew Lance wasn’t really at fault. He wouldn’t have told him either. So he snorted and said, “I thought we’d already established that I would kick your ass in a fight.”

“Uh, like hell we did.”

Keith rolled his eyes at the absurdity of the statement but held out the coffee. “I’m sorry I stormed out, I should’ve let you explain.”

“You had every right to be pissed! I certainly would have been if it was me.”

Keith shrugged, “I’m used to it.” For once, it was easier to tell the truth. Even if Lance didn’t know the extent of Keith’s familiarity with hatred.

“But you shouldn’t have to be!” Lance cried indignantly, throwing his hands up. The intensity of his stare, the way his eyebrows were screwed up as he frowned at the idea of Keith being upset, it was almost enough to make Keith believe him. “What happened to you, it’s not the end. I have no doubt some guy is going to sweep you off your feet one day Mullet.”

Keith nodded and smiled, even as his heart broke.  _ I just wish that guy could be you. _

“Anyways,” Lance said when Keith didn’t offer a verbal reply. “When you were out Allura came round to ask if we wanted to pick up some clients because Hanna called in sick.”

Keith didn’t know who Hanna was, but he shrugged. “Sure, better than doing paperwork.”

Lance picked up the phone and dialled Allura’s office and within fifteen minutes they had a young woman sitting across from them dressed entirely in neon colours. Blue hair ran down to her hips and her head was topped with a flower crown that had already left petals on the floor of the building.  _ Great _ .

“Candy, is it?” Keith asked, trying not to allow the distaste show in his voice. By Lance’s elbow nudging him in the ribs, he wasn’t doing a very good job at it.

Candy nodded enthusiastically, her large triangle earrings swinging perilously.

“May we see your soulmarks?” Keith continued, holding out his hand. The woman’s nails were painted an alarming shade of green and Keith hoped whoever her soulmate was could deal with bright colours. 

He let Lance take a look at the marks first, run his hands over them, making notes out loud that Keith was only partially listening to, distracted by what could only be neon pink contacts in the girl's eyes. They felt like they were staring into his soul, and not in a good way. 

Keith dragged his eyes down at the marks when Lance nudged his side. “That looks like a lion to you right?” Lance said and Keith nodded, trying to focus on the marks and not get dragged back up by the absolute absurdity of the neon colours Candy was wearing. He would never diss the company uniforms again, the blue of Lance’s shirt a calming sea compared to Candy.

“Keith?”

“Right yeah,” Keith said, finally reaching for the marks. He ran his fingers over them and immediately wanted it to stop when his senses were overrun with  _ noise _ .

Screaming, he was sure someone was screaming, though it was hard to tell over the roaring chatter, especially from a girl beside him screeching about Molly Parker? The girl looked so young, ridiculously so, and then Keith saw the banner, Daley Junior High.

Keith jumped back from Candy, trying to get the taste of cafeteria food out of his mouth by drinking from the water bottle on his table.

“Sorry,” Keith spat, water dripping from his mouth in his haste to speak, he wiped it away with his sleeve as he stood and started to walk to the door, “we can’t help you.”

Age gaps weren’t unusual, and Candy couldn’t be more than 22. But like hell was Keith introducing her to her soulmate while they were still a child. Nope. Not a damn chance.

“Keith?” Lance said, and Keith could hear the disapproval but he didn’t care, he just wanted this neon sign out of the office.

Keith tried to portray this with a look and Lance seemed to understand, or he at least understood that Keith was not willing to work with this woman. Keith was eternally grateful that Lance now accepted his stubbornness to deny certain clients without question.

Lance ushered her out of the room in a much more polite manner, sending her back to Romelle before rounding on Keith.

“What the hell?”

“Her soulmate is a kid,” Keith muttered, running his hands through his hair, trying to get the sounds of screaming out of his head. It was too similar to the orphanage.

“There is no way you could know that,” Lance said after a moment of silence, and Keith froze. “You didn’t even check with your source!”

Fuck… Keith couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe beyond the rushing in his ears. He’d fucked it up because he couldn’t handle a middle school grade. Lance was going to figure it out.

“I uh..” Keith had no excuse, no good answer. Nothing to save him from the storm that loomed hopelessly above him.

“Is this because of how she was dressed?”

And then, just when he believed there was no chance of survival, Lance inadvertently threw him a life raft.

“Yes,” Keith nodded, trying to look sheepish or vain or  _ something _ other than utterly terrified. “There’s no way someone mature could be her soulmate.”

Lance sighed, shaking his head. “Keith you scared the shit out of her, how did you even get clients before me?”

Keith crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at Lance, “They were always satisfied with my results.”

“But what about the charm, the razzle-dazzle of it all!” Lance threw his arms in the air, wiggling his outstretched fingers.

“It’s not my job to dazzle them!” Keith retorted, laughing sharply at how ridiculous Lance looked. He’d fit right in with a circus.

“Well, obviously not since you seem to have allocated that task entirely to me as you suck all joy and excitement out them on my left.” Lance crossed his arms, gesturing to Keith as he spoke, a teasing smirk on his face.

“I’m not that bad!”

“Right then you were. Are you sure you want to do clients today.”

Keith rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day, “Yes Lance, get Allura to send up another one.”

“Okay, but pointer from the charm king in the room, try to you know,  _ not _ yell at this one.” Lance winked as he turned back to his desk to get the phone. He sat on the front of his table and lifted the phone to his ear, that playful smirk not leaving his face as Keith scowled at him.

Well, two could play at that game. And since Lance was so sure  _ he _ was the charmer in this team… Keith supposed it was only fair to the rest of the world that he knock Lance down a few pegs.

**~~~**

Keith did not know how Lance did this all day, his jaw  _ physically hurt _ from all the smiling he was doing and if he had to laugh at one more of this man’s terrible jokes he was going to punch something. Meanwhile, Lance looked completely at ease as they followed Keith’s directions to the factory district where Lance had matched up a part of the man’s soulmarks to some street art that had been there for years. Keith could’ve easily led them to this spot, but he loved watching Lance’s keen eye for this stuff, well above Keith’s own natural skills.

They found the man’s soulmate right where he’d sat all afternoon, sitting outside the ‘hip’ outside they’d made from the ruins of the factory. It was a tearful introduction, their marks bloomed red and Keith got him and Lance out of there as soon as he physically could.

Keith’s smile dropped the moment they rounded the corner and Lance burst out laughing at Keith’s sour expression. Lance had noticed Keith’s game the moment he’d stood to happily shake the client’s hand. Keith was always reluctant to do so, and he never did it with a smile. It had been very amusing watching Keith flounder about, laughing at the man’s awful jokes and hold in the sarcastic comments when Lance intentionally made silly suggestions.

“That was impressive I’ll give you that,” Lance said between laughter, “I really thought you would break when I suggested we go get something to eat together to ‘get to know him better’” Lance made air quotes, cackling at the stink eye Keith gave him in return.

“Can we just go get coffee and head back to the office so I never have to smile again,” Keith muttered and it immediately became Lance’s sole mission to get Keith to smile again that day.

It didn’t end up taking much. Lance loved how much Keith had loosened up around him. One joke and Keith was laughing beside him, his hair pulled back into a ponytail that definitely made the mullet worth it. With his fringe framing his face and that smile that Lance was seeing more and more of, it was easy to imagine falling in love with Keith. It only made Keith’s story that much sadder. The sort of story Veronica’s soulmate would have if she went through with the wedding.

Lance’s story petered out and Keith gave him an apprehensive look, dark eyes looking at him as though they knew exactly what Lance was thinking. Lance prepared himself to change the subject, to say something—anything but what he was thinking. But Keith beat him to it. 

“Do you want to continue our conversation from this morning?” Keith asked and Lance’s mouth dropped open a bit.

“Are you sure?” Lance bit his lip, fiddling with his fingers, covered by the thin blue gloves he wore whenever they weren’t with a client. After his reaction this morning Lance had expected Keith to just forget the subject altogether. They usually just avoided soulmate issue talks but here Keith was, actually  _ asking _ him if he wanted to talk about it.

“Go for it.”

“O-okay.” Lance took a deep breath and began from the beginning and then didn’t stop to breathe until he’d gotten it all out, finding that he’d told Keith much more than he’d ever told Nyma. “It gets to me that Rachel of all people is on her side too? Rachel has always been one for the natural soulmate meetings, we didn’t speak for weeks after I went through the agency to find Nyma just because she thought it was the worst way to meet them and now she’s supporting this?” Lance sighed. “I guess I just don’t understand how Veronica could even want  _ this _ . She has the choice so surely she should pick her soulmate, right?”

Keith stared at him with pursed lips for a moment and Lance fought the urge to scream, he just needed someone to tell him he was right, someone to confirm that Veronica was the one making a mistake.

“Lance…” Keith began slowly, “I don’t know a nice way of telling you that you’re being a dick.”

Well, that wasn’t quite what he wanted to hear.

“What?”

“Veronica is an adult. You are talking choices but you aren’t letting her  _ choose _ . Who knows when she’ll meet her soulmate,  _ if  _ she’ll ever meet them. Not everybody does, that’s why this agency is so popular. But just because the usual option is to wait for your soulmate doesn’t change the fact she has every right to refuse it.”

“ I just want her to be happy.”

Keith closed his eyes, breathing slowly, gripping the edge of the bench until his knuckles were white and Lance shifted in his seat, Keith looked ready to hit him. “You realise that you’re the one trying to stand in the way of her being happy?” Keith said through gritted teeth.

“It’s not that simple.”

“No, actually it is,” Keith snapped and Lance jumped, “I know you have this idea that soulmates are perfect, and if that’s what you and Nyma have, then great! But that doesn’t make it the same for everyone. I have seen the worst side of soulmates, people who were raped or killed by their supposed universe provided match. It’s not a perfect system.”

Lance didn’t say anything. 

“Are you really going to choose Veronica’s soulmates happiness over her own? Because that’s what you are doing when you deny her this.”

“I…” Lance stopped talking. He didn’t really know what to say. Keith wasn’t… Keith didn’t have all the facts. He didn’t know Lance’s family like Lance did. He probably didn’t know all the ins and outs about being with someone who wasn’t your…

Lance couldn’t even finish that thought. Keith’s soulmate was  _ dead _ . He would know better than anyone.

_ You aren’t looking out for Veronica! You are looking out for yourself because you can’t admit that Veronica and Axca are more happy than you and Nyma will ever be! _

Rachel had been out of line, he and Nyma were going through a rough patch, but that was normal for anyone. He  _ loved  _ Nyma. Nyma loved him. She did. Rachel didn’t know anything about soulmates, too proud to take initiative in finding her own, too superstitious. Lance couldn’t believe she didn’t trust the company. He couldn’t understand it.

But did that make her wrong about Veronica? Did that make Keith wrong? Or was Lance just a dick.

“I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know? Why are you so sure that this isn’t the best move for her?” Keith snapped, his patience wearing thin.

“Because no insurance will cover her for starters.” Lance’s mind opened the list he’d been building since Veronica had announced her intentions. All the reasons why this was a terrible idea.

“Taylsa Insurance covers married non-soulmate couples,” Keith replied without hesitation. “It’s more expensive but it’s available. What else?”  “What about house loans? Her job! People will look down on her for this, they’ll think she’s not trustworthy.”

“And you think she doesn’t know that? Based purely on how  _ you _ reacted to it I think Veronica is aware of the public view on marriage outside of soulmates.”

“And what about her soulmate? Who’s waiting for her, who will meet her one day, what happens then?”

“ _ If _ Veronica meets her soulmate, she will have a very big decision to make.”

“I just want her to be happy,” Lance repeated and Keith huffed a laugh, throwing his head back.

“So stop standing in the way of it!” Keith cried. “I will never meet my soulmate, are you saying that means I’ll never be happy? That I don’t deserve happiness because I don’t have that option? Soulmates aren’t always endgame!”

“But—”

“And more importantly, Lance,” Keith interrupted. “ _ Your _ views on this don’t change how  _ she _ feels. You don’t have to understand it! You just have to not be an asshole and accept it. If you do this,” Keith said, softening his voice, though losing none of the urgency, “you will lose her.”

Lance sighed. He didn’t understand it. He didn’t understand how Veronica thought that she’d be happier with Acxa than with her soulmate.

But…Keith was right, if he stood in her way she’d never forgive him. And the last thing he wanted was to lose her entirely.

“When did you become so wise, Mullet?” Lance said lightly, unable to take more of this conversation. Thankfully, Keith seemed to understand that.

“I’ve always been wise, you just don’t shut up long enough to hear it,” Keith retorted, laughing when Lance shoved him.

Despite everything, the sound of it brought a smile to his face, he wasn’t sure when he’d started enjoying making Keith laugh. He loved making anyone laugh, he prided himself on his ability to lighten any mood, but there was something about Keith’s laugh that was special. Something about making that man who was often so sullen and dreary light up like that. Keith laughed with his whole face, and with his hair tied back out of his face, you could see all of it.

It made Lance feel things that he couldn’t understand.

Lance just rolled his eyes, laughing along with Keith.

~~~

Lance hated how nervous he was as he set the table that night. Getting ready to apologise to Nyma should not have been more worrying than the call to Veronica had been earlier. Especially since it had been Acxa who’d picked up the phone and Lance had to convince her that he wasn’t the complete dickhead he’d made himself out to be.

He had, barely. Acxa had eventually told him that Veronica wasn’t home but he could come round that weekend to see them if he was being honest about wanting to make things right. Which he was! He was going to grovel until they invited him to the wedding because Keith had been very right, it wasn’t his choice how Veronica found her happily ever after.

His fight with Nyma hadn’t even been that bad. Not in the long run. They’d both done shitty things and taken it out on each other, so in reality, this apology should be easy! They’d apologise to each other and move on with their lives. Their  _ happy _ lives. Lance was happy with Nyma.

She was his soulmate. And he was definitely happy with her. Very happy.

Lance groaned, pulling at the ends of his hair. He was being ridiculous. This was  _ Nyma _ , he had no reason to be nervous.

She walked in on him halfway through a glass of wine. “Lance?” she called, “What is this?”

“An apology,” he replied with a small smile and an offer of a glass of wine. “I shouldn’t have yelled like that, it wasn’t fair to you.”

“No it wasn’t,” she said sharply. Lance’s heart skipped a beat as she stood at the door. He had no idea what she would do. “But I accept your apology,” she said finally, stepping forward to take the glass from him and kissed him lightly before heading into the dining room. “Dinner smells great!”

Lance felt a bit empty as he stared at the bottom of his glass. 

_ Veronica and Axca are more happy than you and Nyma will ever be!  _ Rachel’s words haunted him yet again though this time there was a new one to join them. Keith’s own voice echoing in his head.  

_ Soulmates aren’t always endgame. _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Also, if there's anyone out there who wants to help me beta this fic/kick me to get me to write more hmu on [tumblr!](https://donttrusttheclogs.tumblr.com/)


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